DannyPhantomdotcom
by dpluver
Summary: Sam creates a website for her web design class. Subject: Danny Phantom. Suddenly it becomes hugely popular, against Sam's expectations. What will happen and what secrets will be exposed? COMPLETE.
1. HTML

**Weeeee! A new fanfic is underway! I actually got an inspiration for this on the last day of school while I was taking my Spanish 2 finals….weird place to get a story idea…..anyways, this DOES take place BEFORE Phantom Planet, since I still enjoy writing "classics" (before PP fanfics). I know I have six others to work on, but I'll try to keep this one updated, at least every three weeks or so; after all, it IS summer! Woot! **

**I hope you all enjoy this…..DISCLAIMER: I don't own Danny Phantom or The website was just a good name for the title, but I didn't come up with it. Enjoy!**

Sam Manson let out a huge yawn. It was the second week of school and she already hated her classes. Not because her classes were too difficult, but because they were too easy.

She'd signed up for easier classes for her sophomore year, so she would have more time for ghost hunting with her two best friends, Danny and Tucker. She had also hoped to get in more classes with them, since they always took lower classes than her. Unfortunately, she had only gotten one class with Tucker, but she had gotten four with Danny; life was okay.

Since she was striving for the most flexible schedule possible, there weren't very many elective classes that allowed for free time. Sam had ended up choosing HTML/Web Design. She didn't know why she chose that, but it sounded better than cooking or theatre.

Much to her disappointment, neither Danny nor Tucker were in that class. Since they had let their grades slip so much in their freshmen year, mostly from lack of time thanks to ghost hunting, they had to take more required classes.

The worst part was: Paulina was in the class. Why the girl hadn't taken dance or choir; Sam didn't know. But sitting alone in the back of the computer lab was fine with her, as long as Paulina kept away.

As Mr. Harris droned on about the importance of having hit counters on a website, Sam felt her mind wandering.

_I wonder what Danny's doing. Is he fighting a ghost and I don't even know it? Is he in trouble? Maybe he is! I've got to……sloooooow down Manson. Danny's probably fine. Maybe he's thinking about me! What if……_

"Miss Manson? Miss Manson?" A voice broke through her thoughts.

"Huh?" She asked, dazed.

Everyone in the class was staring at her and Paulina was giving her a smug look. Mr. Harris just glared at her. "Nice of you to join us Samantha," Sam shuddered at her full name. "Now, would you please turn off the lights so we can take notes on our project?"

Sam nodded weakly and turned off the lights.

"Now, you're all going to design your own website, from now until the end of the year. It's your whole grade, so if you choose not to make one, you fail my class. Since you need to know a lot about your subject of choice, it's best to pick something you're familiar with and you enjoy writing about……"

Sam didn't take notes, she just sat and listened. _What the heck am I going to do for this? Goth stuff? No, I don't want to get too personal. Ghost-hunting? No way, people will think I'm turning into Danny's parents…_

The bell rang and Sam got up to leave.

"Miss Manson, will you please stay after?"

She groaned but walked up to Mr. Harris' desk. "Yes?"

"Samantha," she still shuddered at the mention of her full name. Why couldn't he just call her Sam? "I've noticed that you're a good student in all of your other classes, but you always hide in my class. I want you to do something special for your website; something _creative. _Will you be up to the challenge?"

Seeing Danny and Tucker pass by the door, Sam quickly nodded. "Sure thing Mr. Harris!" She ran out to join her friends.

"Hey Sam," Danny greeted her as she came up. "How's web design?"

"Ugh, it sucks. Mr. Harris was asking me to……"

Suddenly, Danny's ghost sense went off. "Hold that thought," he whispered and ran into the janitor's closet. Sam and Tucker knew the drill, so they walked up and kept watch as their friend flew off.

"Wanna go to Nasty Burger?" Tucker looked at Sam. She was gazing off into space, apparently deep in thought. "I'll take that as a no."

Sam shook out of it. "I'm sorry Tucker, I've gotta go work on homework."

She ran off, leaving Danny to fight the ghost alone and Tucker baffled.

"What the heck am I going to do for my website?" Sam wailed to herself. She had been pouring over ideas for hours and she hadn't had one brilliant idea; one that would live up to Mr. Harris' high expectations.

Just then, she heard a knock at her window. Gazing outside, she saw Danny waving. She nodded for him to come inside. He easily phased through the wall.

"Hi Sam."

For some weird reason, Sam felt herself blushing. _Knock it off Manson! _"Hey, what'd you come over for?"

"Well, I just…" He trailed off and looked at Sam. "Sam, why are you looking at me like that?"

"That's it!" She shrieked excitedly. "Sorry Danny, can't talk now."

She ran over to her computer and began typing quickly. Danny raised his eyebrows. "Um, okay. See you later." He flew through her wall and to his house. Sam didn't even notice he left.


	2. Inspiration!

**Here we go again! I hope you all have enjoyed the first chapter; I'm terribly sorry that it was all underlined! It won't happen again, I just used a font that couldn't recognize I guess, so they underlined it all. Whatever. I just hope it didn't turn people away from such a promising story! **

**Now that Sam got her inspiration, now it'll be more fun! Be sure to review, I really like reviews! hands cookie to reviewers This is really fun to write, but I must concentrate on my SIX OTHER DP fanfics……be sure to check those out! They're awesome! **

"Miss Manson, have you started on your website?" Mr. Harris asked Sam two days later.

Sam glanced up from her notes. "Yes Mr. Harris. I've been taking a lot of notes."

Smiling, Mr. Harris leaned down to get a look at Sam's notes, but she quickly covered them up. "Sorry Mr. Harris, I want it to be a surprise."

He looked disappointed and was ready to reply when Paulina called him over. "Mr. Harry? I need you to review my website," she called, waving her arms impatiently.

Mr. Harris sighed. "Miss Sanchez, my name is Mr. _Harris_ and…"

"Whatever," Paulina interrupted. "just come and look!"

He left Sam and walked over to Paulina's computer. "Life in Amity Park, a very good topic Miss Sanchez."

Paulina beamed from his praise. "Yes, I'm working on the ghost section……"

Sam smiled secretly to herself as she refocused on her notes. was going to be a hit. _There's no way I can tell Danny though. Or Tucker or Jazz. _Danny and Tucker knew she was in web design, but they also knew that Danny Phantom-obsessed Paulina was in there, too. Jazz was too busy with college to worry about some website.

She stared down at her notes. Starting a forums section would help her website start getting hits, so she began working on that. "Topics…hmm…" Sam muttered to herself. She wrote down several sections for her forums:

_Danny Phantom Chat_

_Danny Phantom Fan Club_

_Danny Phantom's Powers_

_Danny Phantom News_

_Danny Phantom Stories_

_General Ghost Chat_

_Off Topic Chat_

Satisfied with her list, she started building her site. Unfortunately, the bell rang, so she hurriedly packed up her notes and deleted her history. There was no way anyone could find out that she made the site. The only person that would eventually find out was Mr. Harris, and he wouldn't suspect anything of Sam.

While rushing out the door, Sam ran into Paulina and they both fell down. "Watch it!" Paulina snarled. Suddenly, her eyes focused on a paper Sam had dropped. "Danny? You're doing your website on your lousy boyfriend?"

Thankfully, Sam had snatched up the paper before Paulina had seen anything more than the word, "Danny."

Sam glanced at the girl nervously. "Um, no! It's about a famous goth...who happens to be named Danny."

Paulina rolled her eyes and wandered off.

Sam let out her breath, which she didn't realize she was holding. That was too close for comfort. She had to be more careful than that.

"Hi Sam."

Sam ripped her head up as she finished stuffing her notes into her purple backpack. It was Danny.

"Hey," she whispered, standing up nervously. "I'm sorry I blew you off last night. I had an inspiration for a…book report," she finished lamely.

Danny looked at her oddly for a second, then smiled. "That's alright Sam. It wasn't anything important."

Sam blushed a deep shade of red. Now she felt horribly guilty. She could have spent the night chatting and hanging out with Danny, but she blew him off for some stupid website idea. Well, the website was in fact about him, but talking with Danny was a hell of a lot more fun than writing about him.

The fact that she was going behind his back and making a website about him without his permission made guilt flow like a river in Sam.

"Can you believe Jazz did that?"

Sam jerked her head up. _Oh crap. I wasn't listening again!_

"How weird of her," Sam mumbled.

Danny gave her another odd look. "Sam? Are you okay? You're spacing out a lot lately."

"I am not! Name one time!" Sam shot back furiously. _Big mistake Manson._

"Gee Sam, I don't know…" Danny said sarcastically. "How about now? When I told you that Jazz decided to go to Harvard next year? Tell me, how is that weird?"

Sam looked down at her feet, ashamed. "Danny, I'm sorry. I've just been very preoccupied lately…"

Danny's expression softened. "It's okay. Hey, do you want a ride home?"

Sam smiled. "Of course." She glanced at some people nearby, who had apparently been eavesdropping in on their conversation. "Uh, are you sure _Jazz has her car?_" She asked, winking at him.

Taking the hint, Danny winked back. "Yep, _she will drive us home_."

The conversation was so exaggerated, it was hard for Danny and Sam to keep from laughing. The glanced over at the eavesdroppers, who were walking away in disappointment.

"I guess we weren't giving them anything gossip-worthy," Danny smiled at Sam. "Let's go."

Danny pulled Sam into a locker, when nobody was looking, and transformed. He took Sam and flew her intangibly through the school's roof.

In the air, Sam glanced at Danny. She marveled at the fact that Amity Park's hero was her best friend. Of course, she always thought about that, but when she was flying with him; the feeling was even more intense.

A sudden wave of guilt washed over Sam. Danny was best friend, and yet, she was invading his privacy behind his back. What kind of friend did that?

Noticing Sam's expression, Danny spoke. "Sam? Are you okay?"

Sam blushed. "Uh, no. Nothing is wrong! I'm just…tired."

Danny looked disappointed. "Oh, okay. I'll just take you home then."

"Okay!" Sam said over-enthusiastically. She bit her lip. Of course she wanted to spend more time with Danny, but she had a website to work on.

The two landed in Sam's dark room; Danny said nothing.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Sam mumbled.

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes!" Sam cried exasperatedly.

Without even saying goodbye, Danny flew away.

Sam sighed. It was almost as if her stupid website was more important than Danny; then again, the website _was _about Danny. Either way, Sam felt like shit.

Hours later, Sam had her forums and homepage completed. She'd even installed a hit counter at the bottom of her homepage; just to see if people actually would visit her site. _I sure hope Danny doesn't. _Sam thought feverishly.

But something was missing. "Pictures! Ah, whatever. I'll get them tomorrow."

With a small yawn, Sam looked at her clock. It was 2:00am. "It is tomorrow!" she gasped. With a quick leap, she jumped into bed and fell asleep.

* * *

"Sam…Sam…_SAM!" _

"Huh?"

Seeing light, Sam's eyes instantly fluttered open. It was morning!

She looked over to see her mom, standing impatiently at the door. "Sam! Your friend called and asked if you were coming to the movies with him, but I told him you were still asleep."

Sam gasped in horror. She had forgotten that she promised to meet Danny at the movies today!

"What did he say?"

"He said you guys could go another time…but he was still going with Tucker."

Sam groaned inwardly. She'd lost track at all of the times she had messed up in the past week; now she had one more black mark on her record.

She glanced at her watch. "Eleven o'clock!" She screeched. "Why didn't you wake me up?!"

Mrs. Manson looked hurt. "I thought you needed your rest."

Sam angrily punched a pillow. _Stupid website. Without you, I'd be able to hang out with Danny more!_

Mrs. Manson shut the door and scuttled away without another word to Sam.

"Whatever." Sam walked over to her computer and logged on. There was no use in calling Danny now and apologizing; he was probably enjoying the movie right now.

She was shocked at the number of hits she had gotten in just ten hours.

"Two thousand hits?" she breathed in awe. She checked for new members and found another shocking amount. "Thirty-eight members! Wow! I'm really good at this," she whispered to herself.

When she checked the forums, several people were already posting new threads. She started reading some.

**Topic: Danny Phantom Fan Club**

**Title: I love the ghost boy the most!**

**Topic Starter: pphantom**

_I totally love the ghost boy! He's actually saved my life a few times and I think he likes me too! I heard it for myself! Like one time, I was attacked by a dragon, and he came and rescued me….._

Sam stopped reading and stared hard at the screen. The username was pphantom? And they were totally obsessed with the ghost boy? _Paulina!_ Sam thought fiercely. _But, what's she doing on my site?! _

* * *

**How'd you all like this chapter? Review people! I know it's hard to take ten seconds of your precious time and write a review, but please, I really appreciate them! Thank you!**

**Oh, and by the way, you probably won't be seeing an update for a while, just because I've been neglecting my other fanfics (especially my most popular one, Ectoranium). Anyways, just wait a week or two and you'll see another update! Thanks!**


	3. Publicity

**Okay, okay….I know it's been decades since I last updated, so I promise you that from now on, you'll never have to wait more than a month for an update (unless there's an emergency). So, be sure to keep up the reviews and keep on reading! But seriously, I can't work on chapter four until I get at least one more chapter up for "Ectoranium" since I'm sure those readers are getting a bit impatient. I've also been neglecting my other fanfics ("Memoirs of McLain", "The Best DP Fanfic Ever", "Not Meant to Be", and "Waste of Life") which are less popular because I only have one or two chapters on them. They need serious updating, so they can become the wonderful stories I know they'll be. Got it? Good. Be sure to check out my other stories, they're pretty awesome! Anyways…..enjoy!**

Next Monday at school, the students were slightly more buzzed than normal.

"Have you heard about dannyphantomdotcom?"

"Oh my God, yes! It's like, the coolest site ever!"

"Have you been on the forums? They're so awesome!"

Sam glanced around in shock. _Everyone_ at Casper High was talking about her website!

Paulina ran up to her entourage of friends. Sam listened in on their conversation, since the group hadn't noticed that she was standing right there.

"I'm going to ask the admin if I can be a moderator; I've been on there all weekend!"

Sam's eyebrows raised. _Yeah, I've noticed. I've been on there all weekend, too._

"Oh, I know the admin will let you!" Star gushed.

Sam stared at Star in disbelief. _What the hell? Of course I won't let her be a moderator! It's MY site! She'll spam my site! What is Star thinking?_ Then it hit her, like a rock in the face. _Oh, duh. Nobody knows that I'm the damn admin!_

Sam's site had gotten over two million hits that weekend. She'd also managed to get more background information on Danny Phantom up on her site; but nowhere near enough information where people would start figuring Danny out.

One thing she hadn't managed to do, however, is check the forums. She knew that she should be moderating them, but in reality, she hadn't expected so many people to visit her site and join. In just three days, there were over 150 members.

Sure, people all over the world knew about Danny Phantom; but it didn't occur to Sam that so many people would actually surf the web for information about him!

As Sam walked down the halls, everyone was talking about her site. Not just Paulina's group, but even the nerds were talking about it.

_Go figure. They spend all of their time online anyways. _Sam thought.

Danny came walking down the hall; alone.

"Where's Tucker?" Sam asked him.

"Sick," Danny replied. He gave Sam an odd look.

"What?" Sam feared the worst: what if Danny found out about the website? Would he think it was her? Would he be mad?

_Of course he'll be mad! I'm totally violating his privacy!_

"Oh, nothing. It's just…you were acting very strangely on Friday and you never called me the whole weekend. What's up with you?"

Sam shrugged, trying to stay calm. It was obvious that he hadn't heard anything about the website. "I'm fine," she replied, twitching her left eye. "I was just…not feeling well this weekend." She motioned to her throat and gave a small fake cough. "I had a sore throat."

Her cheeks flushed red; she'd just totally lied to Danny. She used to tell him everything (well, almost everything) but now, she was hiding things from him. She couldn't just stop the website though, it was such a success!

Rarely did Sam get the chance to truly succeed at something. Danny always was the hero when it came to ghosthunting, which was the only thing Sam had been reasonably good at. Now, with web design, Sam was successful. She had an awesome website, and she didn't want to delete it. Even for Danny.

"So, can you go?" Danny's question zapped Sam out of her thoughts.

_Shit! I was spacing out again! _Sam thought worriedly.

"Um, sure?" Sam darted a glance at Danny.

"Okay, cool. I'll see you at my house at six, then?"

"Huh? Oh, well, actually…I'm sorry Danny, but I can't. I have…homework." Sam felt ready to cry. This was like, the millionth time she'd ditched Danny in the last week.

Danny's eyes flashed green, something that never happened when he was talking to Sam. He was furious with her. "Sam! This is the sixth time you've blown me off this week!"

Sam's cheeks flushed like a tomato. "Danny, I'm sorry! I've been really spacey and it's because of all of this…homework I've had lately! I'm sorry!"

Danny said nothing and walked away.

Sam wanted to crawl into a hole and cry. She'd pretty much just lost her best friend. The worst part was, she couldn't explain why she was blowing him off, because if she told him about the website, he'd still be angry with her.

"Calm down Manson, he'll get over it. He always does. Right?" She couldn't even answer her own question.

Paulina came rushing over to Sam. Yes, her. Sam Manson.

"Um, hi?" Sam asked in disbelief. Reverting back to her normal self, Sam shot a glare at the girl. "What do you want?"

"Um yeah," Paulina started in her usual, stuck-up fashion. "I actually had a question…about web design class. I don't know any real people in that class, not that you're real, but…"

Sam clenched her fists and her eyes narrowed. "What the hell do you want?"

Not noticing her furious expression, Paulina continued. "Well, anyways, I need more ideas for my website, since I don't think making a website about this crappy town is very interesting…"

"You're asking _me _for ideas?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Well, Mr. Harry…"

"Mr. Harris." Sam corrected.

"Whatever. He said I had to do a website on something I wouldn't normally try so I decided to ask the weirdest person I could find."

Sam was ready to kill the girl. Instead, she replied calmly. "Oh…"

"What's your website on?" Paulina interrupted.

Sam gasped. _No! She doesn't know does she? She can't possibly…_

"Hello?! I'm talking here! What's your website on? Goth shit? Or how to survive in school with nerdy friends?"

Sam sighed. So she didn't know. Good. "Well, something like that…"

Paulina gave her a disgusted look. "You know what, I'm better off asking Valerie, even if she is a freak…" The preppy princess stalked off in search of Valerie.

Sam sighed. The halls were empty, and now she was alone.

That was probably the weirdest moment she'd had the whole school year. _Whatever. I'll just hope that never happens again._

…**line…break…&…apology…for…Paulina's…OOC-ness…**

"Five million hits?" Sam was breathless. Dannyphantomdotcom couldn't be more successful! In just four days!

She checked her personalized dannyphantomdotcom email and saw that there were over 90 messages.

_Have you ever met Danny Phantom? You sure have a lot of information about him._

Sam thought for a second. Should she let on to the fact that she knew the legendary ghost boy? _Hell with it, he hates me enough already; it's not he'll find out anyways._

She wrote back to the messenger:

_Yes, I have met him and I've gotta tell you: he's not very socialable._

"Or forgiving," Sam muttered to herself.

She clicked on the next message:

_Where does the ghost boy come from? Does he live in Amity Park?_

Sam responded:

_I'm not entirely sure where he came from, but he sure hangs around Amity Park a lot, doesn't he?_

Next message:

_Does he have parents? _

Sam smiled.

_Yes, and they are always trying to kill him. They're clueless._

Little did Sam know that this information was going to cause a lot of trouble.


	4. The Fight

**Okay…I'm SOOOO sorry I haven't updated! I'll do better from now on fer sure!**

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah yeah…I don't own Danny okay:( :( :(**

Sam ventured over to the Phantom Forums. A quick glance at the number of members online was frightening: 900!

_He's not that great of a guy…then again, it's my own damn fault he's so mad at me…_

She clicked on "Danny Phantom Chat."

She instantly noticed a thread called "If You're Out There Danny Phantom, Please Answer These Questions."

It had over forty pages! She clicked on the thread and began reading…

Meanwhile…

Danny's cell-phone rang. He jerked it up to his face.

"What do you want?"

"Dude, it's me." Tucker answered somewhat offended.

"Sorry Tuck, I've just been…frustrated lately."

"With Sam?"

Danny freaked. "What? No…I didn't say it was because of Sam…"

"You didn't say it wasn't," Tucker countered back.

"Okay. You caught me….Sam's been blowing me off this whole week, and I kinda snapped today at school."

"Was she mad?"

"No…she looked ready to…_cry_."

"Sam _never _cries!"

Danny groaned. "Do you have to make me feel worse? I've felt bad about it all day, but when I was going to apologize after school today, Sam had already left."

"So _why_ has she been ditchin' you all week?"

"I don't even know! She won't talk to me. She's been so…_spacey_ this week! I feel like I have her attention one minute, then she's not even listening the next!"

"Try IM-ing her," Tucker suggested.

"Good idea Tuck! I own you one!"

"Yeah, I am full of great ideas…if only you and Sam listened to me more…" Tucker looked at his phone. Danny had already hung up.

_Ghostboy14 has signed on._

Sam panicked. Now Danny wants to chat?

_Gothmaster14 has signed on._

_Ghostboy14: Sam?_

_Gothmaster14: Hi Danny._

_Ghostboy14: Sam, I'm sorry for yelling at you today._

Sam wasn't watching that conversation, though. Paulina had signed on to the forums.

**Topic: The Ghost Boy Loves Me!**

**Starter: pphantom **

_The ghost boy is always following me around…he protects me from all those awful ghosts…I've met him before and he knows my name!_

Without even bothering to finish reading the topic, Sam sat up and replied.

**Re: The Ghost Boy Loves Me!**

**User: admin**

_Trust me: Danny Phantom loves no one. He's a solitary guy who _does_ like to flirt, but he never really loves anyone…_

Meanwhile…

_Ghostboy14: Sam? Are you there? I said I was sorry for today._

But Sam was focused on a different conversation at the moment.

_pphantom: He does too love me!_

_admin: No! He doesn't love anyone. Get it through your thick skull._

_pphantom: Oh fuck off admin!_

_admin: Hey, watch it or I'll remove you from the site._

_pphantom: Go ahead and ban me! See if I give a damn!_

_admin: You know, you're just asking for it now._

_pphantom: You're just jealous!_

Sam sat back. _She's right. I am jealous._

Meanwhile…

_Ghostboy14: Oh forget it Sam. I tried to apologize, but if you're still not talking to me, then that's YOUR problem!_

_Ghostboy14 has signed off._

The window at the bottom of Sam's screen was flashing. Forgetting what it was, she clicked on it.

She read on in horror. Danny had IM-ed her and apologized, and the only thing she said was "hi Danny."

_Gothmaster14 has signed off._

**Reviews are greatly loved and adored :)**


	5. Forgive and Fly Away?

**Gosh…I can't believe how popular this story is…honestly, out of all my stories, "Return to Me" and "Bermuda Love Triangle" are tied for my favorite story title…I'm glad you all like this story, though. It's really fun to write and getting all this great feedback really motivates me to keep going! Remember: more reviews equal faster updates. Few reviews equal slower updates. Which do you prefer?**

Sam felt sick. That was the fourth time she had called Danny, and the second time he had hung up on her.

She'd never seen him so mad at anyone, especially her! Of course, she knew deep down that it was completely her fault. She had put her stupid website before her friendship and now she was paying for it big time.

Sensing that there was no other way around the problem, she set out on foot into the cold evening.

She was so mad at herself that her fury alone could scare off a ghost; therefore, she wasn't too worried about a ghost attack. She wouldn't want to depend on Danny; who would want to save your butt when you had been betraying them time and time again?

It was so cold that she could see her breath. Had it been raining, the rain would have turned to snow by now.

It was a long walk to Danny's house; much longer than she remembered. Of course, Danny always flew her wherever she needed to go and flying was _much_ faster than the miserable act of walking.

Sam didn't know if Danny would ever take her flying again; or even be her friend again for that matter. It was only a matter of time that Danny would discover her website and she would be caught red-handed.

Danny knew her too well. If he didn't know her as well, he would have figured that she was just extra busy this week. But no. He knew when she was lying and faking it; which she had been doing all week.

This was the problem with having only-male friends. Whenever Sam had a problem, she had no girls to talk to. Danny and Tucker were the best friends a person could ask for; but when it came to girl issues, they weren't so great after all.

Although Sam had developed a close friendship with Jazz, there was _no way_ she was telling Danny's own sister about the website. That would only confirm the red-headed girl's crazy theory about Sam and Danny liking each other…._haha…that's impossible! Or is it?_

Sam was sure that Danny didn't feel the same way about her that she felt about him. This would only support Danny's feelings…

At last, Sam wandered up to the oversized brick condo. The words "Fenton Works" weren't lit up, which gave the place an eerie look.

Sam took a deep breath and knocked.

Within seconds, the door opened. It was Jazz.

"Sam?" Jazz sounded surprised. Apparently, Mr. I-Keep-My-Feeling-To-Myself hadn't told Jazz that he was mad at Sam. Sam still had a feeling that Danny was going to be expecting her tonight.

"Hi Jazz…um…I came to see Danny…"

"But it's ten o'clock!"

"I know, but it's important. I kinda…messed things up between us and I wanted to apologize…in person."

Jazz gave her a skeptical look but pointed upstairs. "He's in his room."

Sam stepped inside- grateful for the warmth- and made her way upstairs. She braced herself for disappointment, but still continued down the hallway and knocked on his door.

Nothing. She knocked again. Still nothing. Sam was getting annoyed. She hadn't walked two-plus miles in the freezing cold for nothing.

She opened the door and stepped inside. A small light at Danny's desk was flickering, and his homework was still incomplete.

"Danny, I know you're here. I need to talk to you."

_Still nothing!_

"Wanna play hard ball? Fine." She sat on his bed, waiting for him to appear any second.

"I'm not leaving until you come out Danny."

After a minute, Sam went to his computer and opened some files.

"Hmmm…I wonder what Danny would think if I deleted his Paulina files? Oh well…since he's not here…"

"Stop!"

Danny appeared in the corner of his room. He looked tired and _very_ annoyed.

"What do you want Sam?"

Sam turned around in the chair. "Look: I'm _really_ sorry about today. And yesterday. I've been blowing you off like some kind of jerk and you don't deserve any of that crap."

The one thing about Danny that Sam was most thankful for was his forgiveness. She hoped it wouldn't fail her now.

Just as she had hoped, Danny gave in. "Fine. Just, _please_: don't do it again. It gets really annoying."

Sam blushed with embarrassment. "I'll do my best." She looked outside.

"It's a beautiful night for…" Sam trailed off.

"For what?"

"Flying." Sam smiled hopefully.

Danny grinned back. "Let's go."

He transformed and took hold of Sam. The two left the house and were soon soaring through the cold night's sky. Sam felt no greater joy for life than when she was flying with Danny.

Danny looked back at her and flashed her a smile.

Sam felt the heat on her cheeks rising, even in the blustery evening air.

At last, they reached the Manson mansion, and Danny brought Sam into her room.

"Thanks," Sam said softly. "For everything."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

Danny took off, and Sam watched him longingly from Earth, where she was bound by gravity. Watching Danny fly made her want ghost powers more than anything in the world. Danny's powers gave him the freedom that no human could possibly imagine; Sam wished that she had that freedom whenever she wanted it.

Sam eventually walked over to her computer and went back to work on evening, when Danny got back, his cell phone rang. Feeling dizzy, yet content that he was on good terms with Sam again, he answered in a cheerful voice.

It was Tucker. "Dude. We've got a problem."

**Oh my Gosh. EVIL Cliffie! Want to know what the problem was? More reviews will get you all a fast update! If there aren't many reviews, then you can expect the next update around November 9. Thanks!**


	6. Danny Phacts

**Wow. You guys are amazing! Keep up the good work! By the way, I'm hoping to reach 100 reviews before I post the ninth chapter. Since this is only the sixth, you have three chapters to get in (as of this time there's 73 reviews on the site) **_**37**_** reviews. Even better would be if we got 100 reviews before the eighth chapter…can we make it? Only you guys can make it happen. BTW: aren't you all lucky? I rearranged the summary line and added **_**six more chapters **_**to this story! There were only twelve chapters, but now there's going to be eighteen:) **_**Enjoy**_**…**

"Well, what is it?" Danny asked impatiently.

"There's this website…"

"And?"

"It's not good. Just search 'Danny Phantom and Paulina' and you'll find out."

Danny did as he was told and clicked on the website that came up first. He gasped. All over the page were pictures of Paulina with him- as Danny Phantom- photo-shopped in. Since he was pretty much over Paulina, this made him angry.

All over the page, there was info about Paulina and how 'well' she knew Danny Phantom.

"How'd you find this?"

"It came to me in spam-mail. I thought it looked interesting so I decided to check it out…"

"'Danny Phantom's favorite color is blue?' How'd she know that?"

"No clue. Have you ever told her?"

"No, I'm always fighting ghosts when she tries to talk to me, so it's kind of difficult to say anything!"

Danny scrolled down the page and found a text box marked, "Danny Phacts."

"'Danny Phantom is allergic to strawberries?' Where is she getting this information? Did you tell her?"

"No way dude! She _never_ talks to me," he finished wistfully.

"But there's no way she could have possibly figured it out on her own! 'Danny Phantom hates bears?' Come on!"

"How does Paulina know all this?"

"I don't know, but I'm not so sure I want to find out."

………line………

………break……….

Sam stared nervously at the back of Danny's head. Sure, they had made up, but she was still going behind his back and working on the website.

Still, it was like an addiction: four million hits and over 1,200 members did nothing to help her addiction.

She had banned Paulina four times already, but the shallow girl kept coming back. Most of the time, she didn't even post, but Sam caught her lurking and shut her out.

Danny had looked mildly irritated when he came to school today, and Sam hoped it wasn't for reasons relating to her. He had said good morning, though, and Sam hoped that that was a sign that he wasn't mad at her.

They were taking a test, but Sam couldn't concentrate. She was torn between her desire to stay on good terms with Danny and wanting to continue the website, since it was so popular.

Danny glanced in her direction once, but Sam couldn't read his expression. When he turned back around, Sam's legs felt like jello and she couldn't move.

There hadn't been a ghost fight at school all week, and Danny and Sam and tucker were all glad for that. Still, it put the three of them on the edge…

Surely enough, seconds later, Sam watched as the bright blue ghost sense escaped from Danny's mouth.

He immediately raised his hand and asked to be excused.

"Why, Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Lancer asked in a bored voice.

"I have to…go to the bathroom."

Mr. Lancer nodded, and Danny rushed out of the room. Within seconds of his disappearance, the four classroom windows shattered. They had been hit by a ray of yellow light, and everything dissolved into chaos. Most of the classmates ran out of the room, while Tucker and Sam jumped outside.

Danny was struggling against a new ghost- a powerful new ghost, too.

"Need any help?" Sam offered calmly. It would have been a sight for the students; someone so calm in such a dangerous situation.

"Yes!" Danny yelled with a strained voice. "Go find my Fenton thermos!"

Tucker and Sam darted into the building, while several students came outside to watch the battle.

Danny noticed them and panicked.

"Get out of here! It's not safe for you!"

His moment of ease had taken its toll: the ghost knocked Danny as hard as it could to the ground. Danny stared up weakly, while the students gathered around him.

Forgetting about the enemy above, they began firing all sorts of questions at Danny.

Danny didn't have time for this…the more of his precious seconds lost, the more powerful the ghost got…

Still, they were asking very personal questions…Danny still wondered how they knew all this…

He ignored all of the questions and soared up to his opponent. Its eyes were blood-red, and it didn't look too happy…

Before Danny could even strike a blow, the ghost hoisted him above its head and threw him down to the earth once more.

Tucker and Sam arrived at the scene, with the Fenton thermos in hand. They watched as their friend plummeted to the ground, just over a hundred yards away from the group of curious students.

Then Sam saw something terrible.

**Let's see. Which cliffie was more evil: this one, or the last one? Ha! You all thought Danny was going to find out about Sam's website…come on. I'm not **_**that**_** easy to figure out…anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this, and say it after me: "More reviews equal faster updates. Fewer reviews equal slower updates." That's my catch phrase from now on. The next update (assuming we get not-so-many reviews) will be around November 9...It may be earlier, depending on the number of reviews…but don't expect me to update within two days ever again…this is just a one-time treat!**


	7. Danny in Trouble

**Ah! I just realized it's Saturday, and although I'm trying to watch DP (yes, Nickelodeon is actually showing it for once) I promised you all a quick update, so I'll try to get this done right now…anyways, wow, **_**nineteen reviews**_** for that last chapter?! You're all so amazing! Anyways…here's chapter seven…**

"Danny!"

She watched as the two rings passed over Danny's weakened body…

The crowd of students noticed and immediately trekked over to the spot where their hero had fallen.

Sam ran over and created a blockade; only a few yards away, Danny lay hidden, unconscious beneath the brush.

"Move it Manson," Paulina tried shoving Sam out of the way, but Sam shoved even harder back.

"Back off people…um, haven't you heard that these trees are poisonous?" She motioned to the trees around them.

Paulina looked skeptical. "Uh-huh. Well I don't care…" A wave of realization came over her. "You know where he is! You're hiding him! Where is he?"

Sam watched and saw out of the corner of her eye as Tucker ran behind them to get to Danny. She turned back to the barricaded group.

"Uh, _he_? He who?" Sam just needed to stall for five more minutes…just until Tucker got Danny out of the way…

Paulina angrily shoved Sam aside and ran forward. "Ghost boy? Are you around her, ghost boy?"

The group followed Paulina and Sam stood back.

Tucker looked up and saw people coming towards them.

"Danny, wake up! Change back! Do…something!"

Danny's eyes opened weakly and he immediately noticed the panic on Tucker's face. He managed to change back, but he immediately passed out again' this time staying in ghost form.

"Ghost Boy!" Paulina, of course, found them first.

Tucker jumped back as Paulina kneeled down next to him. But Sam ran up and tried to get Paulina away. Sure, Danny had managed to change back, but she didn't want anything else happening…especially with _Paulina_ around…

"Get away from him, Paulina! Can't you see he's unconscious?!"

Paulina sat back, and for the first time, noticed that yes, the ghost boy _did_ seem unconscious.

The group began muttering among themselves, and Tucker and Sam began trying to get Danny away from everyone.

"I'll help," Paulina offered.

Sam just glared at her. "If you truly want to help, go call for an ambulance."

Sam looked at the gushing green wound on Danny's left leg. He probably broke it when he fell…

Paulina surprisingly agreed and ran off to call for the paramedics, while Sam- unwillingly- allowed some people in the group to help carry the injured hero.

Sam was worried about having Danny go to a hospital; yet there was no way they could possibly heal his messed up leg by themselves.

"Danny!" Jazz came running out of the building. "What happened to him?"

"He took a fall- a _bad_ fall," Sam added.

"But…"

"He _has _to go to the hospital, Jazz. Seriously, look at his leg."

Jazz looked and shielded her eyes. "What am I going to tell my parents?" She groaned.

The ambulance arrived and put Danny on a stretcher.

"I've never seen him so beat up before," a voice behind Jazz and Sam said. Both of the girls jumped and turned around.

"Valerie?! What do you mean by that?" Sam countered suspiciously.

"Hey, I'm just saying, I mean, I've seen him beat up before, but not enough to where he needed to go to the hospital…will he be okay?"

"He'll be fine," Sam and Jazz answered automatically.

Valerie gave the girls a strange look. "How _did _he get hurt, anyways?"

Sam was getting annoyed. She wanted to go to the hospital and make sure Danny was okay, but with all of these questions, she'd never leave! "What do you think? He was _trying_ to protect the school from a ghost and he got hit!"

Valerie's gaze dropped. "Oh, sorry for asking, then…" She walked away, leaving Sam and Jazz alone. Most of the students had been ordered back inside, but the two girls and Tucker remained outside.

Sam looked at Jazz. "Are you driving?"

"You bet, let's go." The three teens sneaked into the school parking lot and drove away in Jazz's new car.

"I can't believe perfect-attendance Jazz Fenton is ditching school," Sam remarked.

"Well, Danny's hurt, so it's worth missing one day. I just hope my parents don't find out…how _did_ he get hurt anyways?"

"Well, there was a ghost attack, everyone was distracting him with questions, and he just got hit really hard."

They arrived at the hospital. They were just getting out of the car, when they all noticed a familiar vehicle parked outside. _Very familiar_…

"Run!"

They all began running at the sight of the Fenton's RV.

"Where's Danny Phantom?" Jazz demanded to the front desk secretary.

The lady gave her a small, sarcastic, smile. "Oh, you want to see the famous ghost boy, too?"

"Uh, yes!"

"You and one hundred other people."

"But…"

"I'm sorry, but only family members and ghost experts are allowed to see him in his condition. Are you his family?"

Jazz looked nervously at Sam and Tucker. "Well, not really…but I'm the daughter of the ghost experts!"

"We don't need anymore ghost experts in there. Family members only."

Sam turned purple with rage. "Are you kidding me?! He _has _friends, too, you know! We're his friends!"

The secretary glared at Sam. "Family members only."

Sam was about to fire her retort, when Tucker and Jazz dragged her away.

She tried to pull back, but it was no use.

They went outside and released Sam.

Sam was furious. "Jazz! What are you thinking?! _Your parents_ are in there with Danny! We have to get to him!"

"Sam, calm down. I have an idea…"

**Another cliffie. You should have expected it by now. Sorry there wasn't much on the actual website in this chapter…you'll hear more about it soon. Review away...the next update will be November 14 or earlier...it's up to you...;)**


	8. Meet the Phantoms

**I'm going to be gone at a dog show this weekend, so I'm updating early…anyways, I can't begin to tell you how much fun I had writing this chapter…I really hope you all like it! Read & review…**

"Jazz, I don't know about this…"

"Come on, Sam! I know it'll work, right Tucker?"

Tucker shrugged. "I guess. I mean, it's the only shot we have at getting in."

"Oh alright…let's go."

Sam, Jazz, and Tucker got out of the car. They had been unable to get into the hospital at all the day before, but they had hoped that this new plan would work today.

They had all ditched school again, so if the plan didn't work, then they were in huge trouble for nothing.

They opened the door- noticing the Fenton RV once again parked outside the main lobby- and casually strolled inside.

The secretary at the front desk was reading a book, and did not notice the three enter the building.

Sam struggled to stifle her laughter; people were giving them the strangest looks!

Jazz cleared her throat. The woman looked up from her book with an expression of shock. But her surprise was quickly replaced with skepticism.

"Hello," she said coolly.

"I'm here for…ah…_my son_," Jazz replied in the most adult-sounding voice she could manage.

The lady's eyebrow lifted. "Oh, and you are…?"

Jazz sighed nervously. "I'm Demi. This is my _husband-_" she motioned to Tucker, "-Donald. And this-" she motioned to Sam, "-is my daughter Danielle."

"Uh-huh. And your last name?"

Jazz let out another exasperated sigh. "Phantom. It's spelled P-h-a-n-t-o-m. _Phantom_."

The lady looked at the three of them sharply. "Am I supposed to believe that you're Danny Phantom's family?"

The three of them nodded.

"I'm sorry, but is there any _proof_ that you're his family?"

Sam glared at the woman. "Who else could be his family?! We look just like him!"

"Uh-huh. I've seen imposters before, Missy. _Lots of them. _I will need to see proof of relation."

The three teens glanced nervously at each other.

"Well…" Jazz began, until Tucker interrupted her.

"If you won't let us see our Danny, then we'll just…uh…use our ghost powers on you! And this hospital too! You don't want to see your precious hospital blown to bits, now, do you?"

Sam and Jazz stared at Tucker in disbelief.

However, Tucker's comment seemed to frighten the lady quite a bit, and she immediately got up.

"I'm sorry…"

"No you're not sorry! I'm asking you: are ghost powers enough proof for you, lady?!" Tucker pretended that he was about to blast apart her desk.

"No! I mean, yes! Yes of course! Right this way Mr. Phantom…so sorry to keep you waiting…" She led them along the huge hospital's corridors and up several flights of stairs. Many people shielded their faces as they walked by; not wanting to face the wrath of an angry family of ghosts…

"Nice going, Tucker. Now they think we're potential terrorists!" Sam whispered to Tucker as they passed a group of people with horrified expressions on their faces.

"Relax, Sam…we know we'd never blow up a hospital…"

"Yeah, but they don't…which reminds me, aren't you scared of hospitals?"

Tucker grinned. "Nope. I got over my fear years ago…"

"You mean five months ago?"

Tucker sighed. "Yeah…but at least I'm not scared of them anymore."

Jazz glanced back at Tucker and Sam. "Will you two shut it? If they hear us say _anything_ out of the ordinary, then we're _never_ going to get to Danny."

It was an uncomfortable journey to Danny's room; the secretary was at least five and a half feet, which made the trio feel more like kids than young adults who were posing as a town hero's "family."

The only problem was that Danny was taller than both Tucker and Jazz, leaving his hereditary tallness open for argument. But then again, no one _dared_ to speak out against a family who had ghost powers…

Even in the secluded halls, the "Phantoms" still got weird looks from the hospital's patients.

The secretary kept glancing back, as though she thought they would start shooting ecto-blasts at her at any given second.

"Here's the room."

The three teens lifted their gazes on the room's door. It had the number 813 engraved in a metal plate; and the door was closed.

"It looks like the doctor is in right now, why don't you three walk around for a while…until your son is ready for visitors…" She gave them a nervous look.

Sam held back her angry response, and instead answered with an "Okay…"

The secretary began walking- or rather running- back to her front desk as soon as she figured the family would do okay without her guidance.

They trudged down the halls, wondering what Jack and Maddie were doing to their best friend.

They came to children's psychiatric unit and found a few chairs to sit on.

"Do you guys think Danny's okay? I was so worried I couldn't sleep last night," Jazz said quietly.

"Jazz, none of us could sleep last night. Danny's like a brother to me and Tucker, too."

Six small children walked up to the Phantom clan. The teens didn't know where their parents were, but they were sure that the parents would be mortified to hear that their children approached a family of "ghosts."

"Do you guys know the ghost boy?" asked a boy on crutches. "You know, Danny Phantom?"

Jazz smiled. "Yes, we're…" She looked at Tucker and Sam for guidance. Sam nodded. "We're his family."

The children's eyes sparkled. They broke out into a chorus of "he's my hero," and "he's the best!"

"Can you give this to him for me?" asked a girl in a purple hospital gown. She handed Jazz an old, worn-out teddy bear. "Tell him it's from Hannah."

Jazz knew the girl would be offended if she refused, so she took it.

"He'll love it."

The girl smiled broadly. "I read on dannyphantomdotcom that he got hurt, so…"

Sam wasn't listening anymore. The website. She'd forgotten all about it in the last couple days. Of course, lots of people had heard about the accident…she must have read on the forums…

Jazz and Tucker looked confused. "What's…"

"Mister and Misses…uh…_Phantom_? Your son is ready for visitors," a doctor informed them.

The trio waved goodbye to the kids and followed the doctor to room 813.

"What's dannyphantomdotcom?" Tucker asked Jazz.

She shrugged. "I've never heard of it, have you, Sam?"

Before Sam could answer, they reached the room. The doctor opened the door and let the three teens inside the dark room.

Danny was laying on the bed, with his left leg hanging in a cast. The trio immediately rushed over to their friend, who was now semi-conscious.

When they reached his side, his eyes widened. "Jazz? Tuck…?"

Sam whirled around to face the doctor. "Oh, look, he must be delirious. We'll be fine, bye!" She tried pushing the doctor out, but he kept resisting.

"Miss Phantom, I…"

"Oh give us some privacy, will you?!" Sam shoved him out and locked the door.

"Why are you guys…"

"Hey! Who are you guys?" Jack came from behind a veil. Maddie trailed behind him, with her hands on her hips. The room was dark, so they weren't worried about the Fentons noticing the teens in costumes.

"I uh…we're Danny's family," Sam mumbled. "Um…could you give us, like, an hour for uh…alone time with Danny?"

"Well, we're working…"

"Great! Take a break!" Sam and Tucker ran and pushed Jack and Maddie out the door and locked it again.

They returned to Danny's bedside. Danny was looking at them the same way the people in the halls had been looking at them.

"Uh…should I even ask?"

"We wanted to see you, but the idiot up at the front desk wouldn't let us in unless we were your family."

"And I wasn't about to tell them that I was your sister," Jazz added.

"So, we decided to play dress up, and now we're the Phantom family," Tucker finished.

"Wow. You guys really thought this through."

"Yeah, and everything has gone pretty smoothly…except when Tucker threatened to blow up the hospital," Sam added, glaring at Tucker.

"I almost believed your costumes when you came in…even your _hair_…"

"We weren't going to take any chances. That secretary has turned everyone away, even Paulina. She claimed to be your girlfriend, you know."

"But she's not!" Sam added angrily.

"So what happened? All I remember is a ghost and Tucker telling me to change back…"

"You passed out. In front of _everyone_."

Danny panicked. "What?! So now…"

"Don't worry, your secret's still safe. You changed back in time, but what's with your leg?"

"The doctors think I broke it."

"Do ghosts even _have_ bones?"

"Yes, and it hurts just as much when you break them," Danny winced as he readjusted his leg's position.

"So how are you going to get out of this one?"

"I can't! I can barely move! They keep drugging me off to get rid of the pain, and then Dad tried to get me to drink his special 'ghost medicine…'"

"In short, you're stuck here," Tucker finished.

Danny nodded.

Jazz was about to say something else when the door opened. Three doctors came in and dangled the keys; as though trying to prove that they couldn't be forced out of a patient's room…

"Mrs. Phantom, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. It's time for your son to take his medication…"

Sam looked ready to maul the men, but Tucker and Jazz held her back.

"Very well, doctors…just don't hurt Danny," Jazz replied.

"Don't worry, we'll figure out a way to get out of this one," Sam whispered to Danny.

He smiled. "We always do."

The trio waved goodbye to Danny, but ignored the doctors; they were slightly angry at the fact that they only got ten minutes with their friend…

This time, it was easier to ignore the odd expressions people gave them, and they walked along the lobby.

_We're watching you_, Tucker mouthed to the secretary as they passed the front desk. She looked terrified, and immediately nodded her acknowledgement.

When the secretary turned away, Sam slapped Tucker on the back of the head.

"Seriously, Tucker, how stupid can you be? If this plan ever fails…we'll be arrested for life!"

"Well, we're almost home-free…"

They stepped outside, only to be blinded by flashing cameras and having microphones shoved in their faces.

"Oh, crap," they all said in unison.

**LOL…I've got nothing more to say…except review:)**

**Oh...next update: expect it to be around November 17...;)**


	9. The Crash

"Run!" The three kids ran for Jazz's car as the paparazzi chased after them.

"Floor it!" Sam screamed.

Jazz stepped on the gas, and with white knuckles on the steering wheel, she whirled the car out of the hospital parking lot.

After five minutes of intense silence, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Great, just what Danny needs, _more attention_!"

"How did they know we were there?"

They all gasped. "The secretary!"

"No! Why would she do that?"

"I don't know…oh, Danny's going to be so mad!" Jazz moaned.

Sam smiled. "Well, it wasn't my idea. I'll just blame you."

Jazz glared at Sam. "This isn't a time for joking! Now everyone is going to be asking Danny about his 'family!' We can't dress up like this forever!"

Jazz glanced in the rearview mirror and shrieked. "They're following us!"

"Speed it up then! You're only going forty!"

Jazz stepped on the gas and got the car up to sixty miles per hour. Sam had a death grip on her seat, and she felt Tucker holding on just as tight to her headrest.

"Damn Jazz, you drive worse than your dad!"

As they went around a corner, Sam felt the left side's wheels lift off the ground slightly…

Jazz thought they had lost the media, but it was just the opposite: they were gaining on them!

The road was slick, and the rain was pounding lightly on the windows.

Jazz looked in the mirror again; the people were now trying to take pictures as they were driving! Sam looked out the window and noticed two helicopters following them as they went whipping around the streets.

"Get out of here!" Tucker yelled above the pounding rain.

Jazz pumped harder on the gas. The photographers were reckless though; surely one of the first pictures of the ghost boy's family was going to be worth a lot of money…

Sam's knuckles were colorless; her grip was so hard on the side of her seat. Lights were flashing…rain was pounding…it seemed to go in slow motion. Suddenly, without any warning…

Danny, extremely bored now, turned on the TV. He flipped channels until he landed on the news channel, where there was an aerial shot of what seemed like a high-speed car chase. Something wasn't right, though…he'd seen that car before…

As soon as it came to him, the worst happened: the car spun out and flipped over.

"JAZZ!"

Within half of a millisecond, Sam went from looking out the window to utter blackness. All she heard was Jazz's terrible scream…

Jack, Maddie, and three doctors came rushing into Danny's hospital room.

Maddie looked at Danny suspiciously. "Did you just yell, '_Jazz_?'

Danny couldn't speak…he had to get to his sister…wait…_Tucker and Sam were in the car too!_

Without thinking, Danny leaped out of the bed and tried to run. However, the pain in his leg was too great and he immediately collapsed after landing.

Maddie pulled him up. "What are you, crazy? What's the matter?"

Danny pointed to the TV screen, where the helicopter was still hovering over the crash. Everyone looked, and Danny leaped into the air and flew out the door.

"Come back here ghost punk!" He heard his dad yell. It didn't matter, though…his sister, his best friends…he had to make sure they were okay…

Danny made it to the crash site within one minute. The paramedics had arrived, but he pushed right through them. The pain was almost unbearable by now…yet he kept walking forward…

His vision was becoming spotted, but he shoved his way through the car's scattered parts.

"Danny?" He fell to his knees and looked up. He saw a blurry image of Jazz and Tucker standing on the sidewalk…_they had survived_…

Danny was seconds from passing out, but where was Sam? He looked off to the side, and he saw her lying quietly- hopefully unconscious- next to a destroyed tire…

"Danny!" The pain was too much; Danny gave up and passed out.

**Review please :)**


	10. Stranger at the Door

**I'm having the worst writer's block in fanfiction history, but I recently saw a new episode of **_**Avatar**_**….let's just say that Katara made me really mad, so I decided to stay away from **_**Avatar **_**for a while and work on my DP fanfiction (lucky for you guys!) Sorry it's been so long though! Enjoy!**

Danny jerked his head up. He couldn't remember much, and he was blinded by the glaring lights in his hospital room.

"What happened?" He asked the doctor.

He turned around. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Why did you leave?"

"I uh…" Suddenly, he remembered…the crash…the rain…SAM! "Where is she?!"

The doctor gave him a strange look. "Who?"

"SAM!"

Jack and Maddie came from behind a curtain. "Sam? You can't be talking about Sam Manson?"

Danny panicked. "No…I meant…my, uh…sister…Danielle? Yeah, Danielle…is she okay?!"

Maddie looked away sadly. "She was hurt pretty badly in the accident, but she's going to be okay."

Danny sighed with relief. "Where is she? Can I go visit her?"

Maddie shook her head. "You shouldn't visit her…"

"WHY NOT?!" Danny yelled, trying to get out of bed.

"Well, strangely, the doctors found no traces of ectoplasm…they're doing tests to see why she only has human DNA and…"

Danny looked around. Sam was in huge trouble, and he had to get there fast. Suddenly, he had an inspiration. He turned intangible and jumped into Maddie's body. Just as he had completely overshadowed her, Jack turned around from his experimenting.

"Hey…where'd the ghost kid go, Maddie?"

"I…I mean, he…uh, went to the bathroom?" Danny stammered.

Jack looked confused. "But Maddie…"

Danny couldn't take these confrontations anymore; so he ran out the door.

In the hall, one of the nurses stopped him. "Oh, hello Mrs. Fenton, I was just coming to get you…we need your expertise regarding the ghost girl…"

Danny allowed himself to be dragged away by the nurse, hoping she would lead him to Sam's room.

"Here we are, Mrs. Fenton. Now the doctors are…"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard about the problem." Danny shoved her away and pushed through a crowd of nurses and doctors to get to Sam's bed. She looked very beaten up; she looked downright awful, but she still looked more like his "younger sister" than Sam Manson.

He noticed her eyes widen in fear at the sight of Maddie.

Danny turned and faced the doctors. "Okay, I think I know what the problem is, but I need a few minutes to question Sa-, I mean Miss Phantom."

Danny shooed the doctors away and locked the door.

Sam was panicking. "Mrs. Fenton?! What are you…"

"Calm down, it's me, Danny."

Sam looked shocked. "Really? Prove it."

"Well, I'd come out of my mom and show you, but then we'd be in deeper trouble."

Sam sighed with relief. "Danny, what's going on? I mean, I know they've figured out by now that I'm not exactly a ghost, but…"

"Are you okay?" Danny interrupted.

"What?"

"I asked if you were okay."

"Yes, I'm fine, but Danny we have a huge problem here!"

"I know, but I have an idea."

Just before Danny began explaining his plan, there was a knock at the door.

"Hold on! I'm busy!" Danny yelled in Maddie's voice.

"Mrs. Fenton, Miss Phantom has a visitor…they say it's urgent."

Sam and Danny looked towards the door as it opened, ever so slowly……

**Hahaha…cliffie anyone? Reviews please! And I promise the next update will be sooner:)**


	11. Well, That's One Way of Escaping

**Okay. It's been almost four years since I updated this, I get it. But…better late than never, right? Reading through previous chapters is definitely cringe-worthy, but at least that proves that my writing skills have vastly improved and from now on, I promise less annoying author's notes (oh, and no line breaks, not sure what was up with those). And I WILL be finishing this story :)**

It was none other than Vlad…Plasmius? Danny and Sam gasped. So did he, as he hadn't been expecting to find his one true love and his young archenemy's girlfriend here. So this "Danielle Phantom" wasn't his Dani after all.

"How many ghosts are in this hospital?" Sam muttered under her breath as the villainous ghost floated toward them.

"Maddie Fenton, am I correct?" he said quietly, not realizing it was really Danny just overshadowing his mother. Instead of revealing himself, however, Danny remained where he was.

"The Wisconsin Ghost," he replied to Vlad in his best imitation of his mom's voice. "Who in the world allowed you into a hospital with young children around?"

Vlad grinned evilly. "Looking for one of my own, actually. I believe you have my daughter."

Sam sunk back into the bed, determined not to make eye contact with either of them. If she looked at Danny, they would be doomed.

"Actually Vlad…_Plasmius_, right?" Danny added, hoping to appear more clueless than he was. "We already had a visit from this girl's family. So if you're looking for your daughter, I'd try the Ghost Zone."

Vlad landed and walked closer to the two kids. Sam closed her eyes, wondering what Vlad's real motive was for being here. Sure, it was a possibility that he was really just looking for Danny's clone cousin, Danielle, but he would have left by now if that were the case. She was just thankful it was Danny in here with her rather than Mrs. Fenton.

She felt a ghostly, gloved hand brush across her shoulder and shivered slightly at his touch.

"As a ghost expert, _Mrs. Fenton_-" Danny could tell it was really killing him not to say her first name- "surely you realize this girl is merely a human?"

"Is she?" Danny mumbled quietly, hatching a rather brilliant plan in his head as he brushed the dyed white hair out of Sam's eyes. "Because actually I was thinking she looks a lot like her father…" he pointedly looked up at Vlad.

Vlad was taken aback by this. So was Sam, unfortunately. "What?"

"Oh yes," Danny looked down at Sam, wishing she could see his eyes behind the red goggles. "Sorry sweetie, but the DNA tests confirmed that you're not related to Danny Phantom."

Sam simply stared back at him, wide-eyed and unable to speak. Was her best friend really just going to hand her off to Vlad?

"The doctors okayed her release and my d…uh, Jack, my _husband_ agreed that no further ectoplasmic testing needs to be done on her. You're free to take her."

"What?" Sam yelled, wanting to claw her friend's face off by finding difficulty in releasing herself from the bed constraints. "He's not-"

"-come girl," Vlad said harshly, turning her intangible and plucking her from the hospital bed. He couldn't quite believe his luck, but with young Daniel's room just a few doors down, this was his only chance to escape with his new hostage before the obnoxious boy caught up with him. Not that he would get very far, as the last Vlad had heard on the news, the boy was supposed to be dying from massive ectoplasm loss.

"I could always escort you down to the parking lot, to ensure that the girl doesn't give you any trouble," Danny said in a sickeningly flirtatious voice that he knew- coming from Maddie's lips- would work on Vlad, no matter how much it made him want to puke.

Vlad's evil red eyes glowed brighter at this. So far, he didn't suspect a thing. "That would be most appreciated."

Danny smothered a smile and maintained his neutral facial expression as he followed Vlad out the door with Sam kicking and fighting her hardest to be released from his grasp.

Once again, nearly every nurse, doctor, patient, and office worker paused and stared as the trio made their way down to the first floor of the hospital. Sam was enraged, so much that she was beginning to sweat; well, simmer, anyway. She was furious with Danny. How irresponsible could he be? Just handing her off to the most evil guy in Amity Park like that? She wondered where he was going to take her, after all, he had obviously recognized her and surely he knew that she knew his secret identity? If he ever released her, what would be her incentive for keeping that information quiet?

"I know ghosts prefer to fly, but since the girl is still fragile, why don't I give you two a lift back to your place?" Danny offered, not knowing how Vlad would be able to answer that without giving himself away to 'Maddie' but running with the idea anyway. After all, how would the old creep be able to resist more almost-alone time with Maddie?

Vlad replied warmly once more. "Of course. Nothing but the best transport for my daughter."

Danny couldn't quite believe Vlad was still going along with this, and it took a lot of his concentration _not_ to look at Sam, who had been shooting him the death glare ever since they had reached the hospital's main lobby area.

He picked up the pace as he unlocked the family assault vehicle, wanting to get to the driver's seat before Vlad reached his seat. The older ghost entered by means of intangibility, leaving Sam in a clearly uncomfortable position in the back seat before floating up to the front.

"Just type your home address into the GPS," Danny said quietly, trying to distract Vlad for just a few more seconds. Vlad typed in an address that Danny didn't recognize, but it didn't matter because he wasn't going to be reaching his destination.

Vlad sat back and turned to Maddie. His fanged smile turned to one of horror as he surveyed the scene in front of him.

Eyes glowing green beneath the goggles and with a Fenton Thermos in hand, Maddie smiled at him. "You know, as mayor of Amity Park, I thought child abduction would be a little beneath you, Plasmius."

A yell and a flash of blue light later, Plasmius was locked up inside the Fenton Thermos. Still in Maddie's body Danny turned around to face Sam. The huge grin on his face was quite different than the expression of shock on hers.

He shook the thermos for added effect. "I've been wanting to do that for a long time."

**Reviews are appreciated :)**


	12. Manson, We Have a Problem

**Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter! Now time to get back to the reason I gave this story its title….**

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"Do you realize how creepy this is from my perspective?"

"Sam, you know I can't come out or my mom will know I've been overshadowing her."

"Still," Sam grumbled as Danny carefully tucked her into his bed, having finally finished wrapping up his friend's injuries. "You should take her back to the hospital."

"Okay. Are you going to be okay without me for a few minutes?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "I know you have at least a dozen anti-ghost weapons under your bed. What do _you_ think?"

Danny grinned and waved goodbye as he phased through the wall. It was a short drive to the hospital, but absolutely terrifying for Danny, who had nearly no driving experience to his record. In the parking lot, he found it ironic how he had no problem driving a Specter Speeder at top speeds through the air, but found great difficulty in parallel parking. With all of the technology loaded into this vehicle, one would assume the Fentons would have installed a backing up camera. Then again, after the cell phone incident, Danny couldn't say he was surprised.

When he got up to the floor where his hospital room was located, he could see doctors and nurses running around in panic. Meanwhile, his dad was poring over some tracking device at the desk in his room.

"Maddie!" Jack exclaimed as Danny entered the room, just in time to see his dad typing in "Danny Phantom" into the tracking device.

"Da-I mean, Jack!" he said nervously, trying to pry the device from his dad's hands before it told him that Danny Phantom was hiding out in Maddie Fenton's body. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Where have you been Maddie?" he asked, looking terribly confused.

"Uh, I was...talking to the doctors. They told me to let the ghost boy go. So uh, I did."

"What about the dissection we had planned for this afternoon?" his dad exclaimed, looking severely disappointed.

_This is exactly why I'm still hiding from you guys,_ Danny thought sourly to himself, unable to believe his parents were going to try ripping him apart without his consent.

"It's fine, really," he lied shakily. Out of everyone he'd ever overshadowed, accurately portraying his mom was the most difficult task of all. Sensing that he had run out of options, Danny quickly exited his mom's body and invisibly flew away from the hospital. He'd deal with the consequences later. Right now, Sam needed him.

It took him slightly longer to fly home due to his still-recovering injuries, but it was still faster than panicking behind the wheel of an RV that he had no idea how to drive.

Sam was almost asleep when he arrived. He tried to remain as quiet as possible to let her rest, but she still noticed his arrival anyway.

"Much better," she said weakly at the sight of her friend back in his own body.

"How are you?" Danny asked, transforming and sitting next to her on his bed. He gently placed his hand on her forehead, checking for a fever, but her temperature was normal.

"I'm injured, not sick," Sam smiled softly. Danny blushed and immediately withdrew his hand.

"Right," he laughed nervously. "Well, I'm glad that's over with. I just wish I remembered what actually happened. It all seems fuzzy to me."

Sam paled. The reason Danny got hurt in the first place was because of the crowd of students firing questions at him while he was trying to concentrate on battling a ghost. All because of...

Sam gasped. Her website. She hadn't checked on it or updated it in how long? A week? Possibly more?

"Sam?" Danny looked concerned. "What's wrong?"

There was no way she could check it here. Not with Danny here. Not on his own computer. The project was due in less than two weeks and despite its popularity, she still had yet to fulfil the majority of the project's requirements.

"I'm fine," she lied to him for what felt like the millionth time that month. "Just…tired."

"As usual," he said quietly, still watching her suspiciously. "Why don't you just sleep here for a while and I'll take you home when you feel okay to travel?"

Sam nodded. Her mind was racing, so paying attention to what Danny was actually saying was difficult. She knew she had to delete that stupid site as soon as possible and start on a new one. Yes, it had been wildly successful beyond what she could have imagined, but it had nearly cost Danny his secret. He didn't deserve a major consequence like that to occur just because she made a huge mistake.

_I'll delete it and he'll never see it,_ Sam promised herself. She'd probably fail the project, but it was worth it to protect her friendship with Danny.

She gave Danny a weak smile. "Sounds good."

He smiled back and went to his computer to let her doze off for a while. No new IM's since his last log in- not like anyone besides his friends ever wanted to talk to him anyway- but his homepage had some interesting news about him.

"_Danny Phantom- Authorized Outpatient or Escapee?"_

"_Everything You Need to Know about Amity Park Hero's Family"_

"_Danielle Phantom- Who IS the Father?"_

"_Danny Phantom- Where is he now?"_

Danny clicked on some of the articles and browsed through. It was always fun to read what rumors were cropping up about him this time. At the bottom of one of the articles, however, he found an interesting link.

"Danny Phantom dot com?" he whispered aloud. Somehow this sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember where from. He clicked on it.

His eyes widened as he took in the site. Thousands of members, dozens of forum posts and discussions: all about _him_. There was even an "info section" with disturbingly accurate facts about him. What crazed fan could possibly know this much about him? The more he read on, the more numb his entire body felt. This was _bad._

"Uh, Sam? I think we have a problem."

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**Muahahaha. I'll try to update soon, but lately oneshot ideas have been plaguing me like flies! Reviews are appreciated, as always! ;)**


	13. Who's Behind This?

**Oh Word, why did you have to delete my work when I was **_**halfway through the chapter?**_** So…much…rage. Hopefully this is a slight improvement on what got erased! Thank you to everyone who left comments on the last chapter. I always enjoy reading them!**

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"What is it?" Sam tried to get up form the bed to see what had Danny all worked up, but her body was still weak from the intravenous medications and she collapsed under the weight of the blankets.

Before Danny could respond, Tucker and Jazz burst through his door without any warning.

"Uhh, is this a bad time?" Tucker asked, seeing Sam's weak form in the bed and Danny sitting in his chair with a shocked look on his face.

"No, I'm glad you guys are here," he said quickly. "We have a problem."

"No kidding," Jazz said. "Have you _seen_ the news lately? They're going crazy over your disappearance! You can't just _leave_ a hospital because you _feel _like it!"

"I didn't. Mom released me."

"She did?" Jazz looked highly dubious.

Danny grinned lazily. "Technically, yes." Then his face turned more serious. "Look at this."

Tucker and Jazz crowded around the computer screen and stared.

"Danny Phantom dotcom?"

"_Almost two million members?_"

"Who made this?"

Danny frowned. "I'm not sure. Somehow I think Vlad's got to be behind this."

"But doesn't he realise that you could just as easily give away his secret too?"

"Face it, the guy's got weird motivations. But we can always ask him," Danny grinned, holding up the Fenton Thermos.

"You trapped Vlad in the thermos?" Tucker said, awestruck. "That's awesome."

"Yeah, but I don't think he'd be too willing to cooperate if he's really been in there for a while," Jazz said.

Danny rolled his eyes. "It's only been a few hours…I think. But here," he opened one of the drawers in his desk and pulled out a few ecto weapons. "Just in case."

He also transformed, just for added security. Having ready access to his ghost powers was crucial in case Plasmius decided not to play nice this time around. Exhaling slowly, Danny pressed the release button.

Vlad rocketed out of the thermos. He was slightly disoriented, but could see clearly enough to punch Danny in the jaw on his way out.

"Don't you _ever_ do that again!" Vlad snarled.

Despite the pain reverberating along his face, Danny laughed. "Sorry V-Man. I forgot how scary my dad's inventions could be."

Logical as ever, Jazz cut the banter short and got right down to business. "We have a few questions for you."

"And what makes you think I'll be willing to answer them, girl?" Vlad asked, looking highly amused.

Tucker and Jazz pointed their weapons at the older ghost in response.

"Very well."

"What do you know about this?" Danny asked, gesturing to his computer. Vlad came in for a closer look. After perusing the site for a few moments, he threw his head back and laughed.

"Why Daniel, starting your own fan club already? Your arrogance truly knows no bounds-"

"Save it, Plasmius," Danny grabbed him by the collar and glared at him. "I know you did this. And once my secret's out, yours will be too."

Vlad's eyebrow rose. "Really? You think I honestly have _time_ to fool around with the internet, boy? And if I really wanted to expose your little secret, wouldn't I rather get recognition for it, instead of hiding behind some obscure little website?"

Danny frowned. It was true, after all. If Vlad wanted to humiliate him, he would do it in public, where everyone would be able to see their great mayor as the 'hero' that exposed Danny Phantom for what he truly was. And given how old Vlad was, the likelihood of him having any sort of web-savvy was slim to none. So the creator or creators of this site must've been around his age…

"It's hardly 'obscure,'" Jazz pointed to the screen, where the number of new members continued to skyrocket by the minute.

Danny looked at Vlad again. "So, if you didn't do it, then who-"

Suddenly the door flew open. Vlad and Danny panicked and turned invisible at once, leaving just Jazz, Sam, and Tucker visible in the room. When the dust settled, they realised it was Maddie.

"Jazz? Tucker? Sam? Where's Danny?"

"Right here Mom," Danny said, coming up behind her, having changed back into his human form. He was panting slightly; that had been too close. Didn't _anyone_ knock these days?

"Oh sweetie!" Maddie hugged him and examined his face. "You're as pale as a ghost!"

"Am I?" Danny laughed nervously, darting a look at his sister that clearly said 'HELP ME.'

"Uhh, Mom? What are you doing home so early?" Jazz rushed up to Maddie, trying to lead her out of the room, but instead Maddie continued walking inside.

"The ghost boy escaped from the hospital before your father and I could run our tests on him," Maddie said exasperatedly. Her eyes travelled from Sam to her kids and to Tucker, who was standing near her son's computer. Noticing a familiar image on the computer screen, she abruptly turned her full attention to that.

Tucker panicked and tried to block her view, but it was no use. She walked up to the desk and read a few lines from the open tab on the screen. At the top, there was a picture of the ghost boy fighting the Box Ghost.

"What's this?" Maddie asked the kids, scrolling down the webpage. "Danny Phantom dotcom?"

"It's nothing!" Danny and Jazz exclaimed in unison, but it was too late; Maddie had discovered a goldmine of information, and judging by the grin that was slowly creeping onto her face, she was going to use it to its full potential.

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**Next chapter: bad news for Sam, and it may not be what you're probably thinking. Review, review, **_**review**_**! :)**


	14. Girlfriend?

**Thanks for the comments on the last chapter :) This story is getting more interesting with every chapter I write…I hope my awesome readers have as much fun reading it as I do writing it! ;)**

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Sam was a wreck. After watching Danny's mom stumble onto her website, she knew it had to be deleted. She hadn't said anything at the time, but as soon as Danny flew her home that evening, she ran to her computer, preparing to annihilate ever remainder of her nightmarish mistake.

Much to her horror, someone had hacked into the site and changed the administrative settings, making it impossible for her to delete even a forum post. She contacted her hosting service, determined to take it down once and for all, but all she got was two hours on hold with a recording interspersed with annoying country music.

At last, she slammed the receiver down, promising herself she would try again tomorrow. The site _had _to go. It had caused enough damage as it were, but now that she- the _creator_ of this monstrosity- couldn't even maintain control of the administrative processes, it was even more horrifying.

Sam wished Tucker was here. Then again, even if he _could_ break through the hacker's coding, he would still figure out that she was the one who created the site in the first place.

She slammed her head on her desk in frustration. She didn't mean for things to go as bad as they had been going lately. With Danny in and out of the hospital, his secret at risk for exposure, and now a hacker! Surely things couldn't get any worse…?

Of course they could.

The next day at school, Danny was definitely not his usual self. He was beyond paranoid, like that time Youngblood had been stalking him, except this situation somehow seemed so much worse.

Sam wasn't doing much better. She had practically pulled an all-nighter, trying to search for different ways to hack back into her own website, but Google failed her.

Seeing Valerie browsing through it in the library nearly brought Danny to his breaking point.

"That site needs to be destroyed," he muttered darkly.

"Definitely," Sam said quickly in a higher-than-usual voice. Danny and Tucker didn't seem to notice.

"I still don't fully believe that Vlad is completely innocent here. He must have been lying yesterday."

"But doesn't he have a pretty strong reason _not_ to reveal your secret?" Tucker reminded him.

Danny threw his books down onto a table, garnering an angry glare from the librarian nearby. "I don't know! Maybe he just doesn't care anymore!"

"_Quiet!"_ the librarian hissed at him.

Sam sat down a chair apart from Danny, not knowing what to do or say. He was so upset that she could see a glimmer of the ghostly green behind his eyes, and the dark circles under his eyes indicated that he hadn't gotten much sleep last night, either. It was torturing Sam to see her best friend like this.

As if on cue, a blue mist escaped his mouth. Instead of looking annoyed or nervous, however, Danny smirked.

"Finally. Time to let off some steam."

He ran around to an abandoned area of the library and transformed, while Tucker and Sam watched Valerie sprint for the exit, no doubt preparing for battle as well.

Outside, they could see Technus relocating various wires leading into Casper High. The power went out instantaneously, leaving them mostly in the dark. The vibrant green rays of light coming from Danny's hands mesmerized the students watching from the safety of the library.

Sam cringed as the battle wore on. Danny was so mad that his ecto-blasts were much more powerful than usual. Normally Technus took a while to defeat, but it only took a minute or two before Danny sucked him into the thermos.

Naturally, the battle couldn't be over until Valerie got in a few shots. Having not noticed Technus, Valerie's shouts indicated that she was blaming Danny for the school's power outage. A ray of pink light here, a few green ecto-blasts there. It was the usual fight between the Red Huntress and Danny Phantom, except Sam noticed that Danny wasn't holding back as much as he normally did around Valerie.

He was irritated. Sick and tired of people knowing so much about him and yet wrongly interpreting this information by assuming he was just some evil ghost that constantly attacked Amity Park. Valerie had been to that stupid website; why was she still attacking in spite of the overwhelming support for him and evidence that he wasn't so bad in the first place?

Sam ran outside, leaving the chaotic audience to their enthusiastic viewing. She had to convince Danny to get out of there before he let his anger go to his head and actually harm Valerie.

She waved her arms at Danny from a hidden spot near the back of the school. Valerie's back was facing her, but Danny noticed her frantic gesturing for him to cool it. After narrowly avoiding several small spurts of pink light from Valerie's suit, Danny turned invisible. Normally this was viewed as a cowardly measure, but to Danny, it was either make a break for it or unleash his fury and frustration out on a girl who he knew wouldn't mean him any harm if she knew whom he really was.

"Where'd you go?" she shrieked angrily, using her ghost vision goggles to try tracking his location. It was no use, however. He was gone, as far as she could see.

Stomping on one of the buttons on her jet board, Valerie flew away before anyone could stop her. School was over for the day, anyway.

"Thanks Sam," Danny said quietly, appearing behind her.

Sam jumped slightly at the sound of his voice and whirled around to face him, relaxing only when he turned visible again.

He sighed, looking more miserable than ever. "I can't believe…I just, couldn't stop. I'm not normally like that."

"You're not," Sam said shakily, putting her hand on his shoulder to comfort him, even though she was more in need of comforting at the moment. "And it won't happen again. You're just having a bad day and Valerie wasn't doing anything to help with that."

Danny smiled sadly. "I guess. Thanks Sam. Want a ride home?"

Fearing this could be one of the last times her best friend ever flew her home, let alone _talked_ to her, Sam numbly nodded in response. Maybe she could even tell him on the way home…

They made it all the way to the Manson residence and Sam had yet to say anything. She tried formulating sentences in her head, but the words remained fully incoherent and unable to reach her lips.

"Have a better day," was all she could manage after he set her down in her room. Much to her surprise, Danny grinned and actually gave her a hug.

"That definitely helped," he said, referring to their quick but cozy flight home.

As he disappeared through her walls, Sam felt hot tears springing to her eyes. He was truly the best friend a person could ask for. Why had she failed him so miserably in return?

With a new burst of determination, Sam went over to her computer, ready to do whatever it would take to obliterate her website. Her class grade no longer mattered; her friendship with Danny would always outweigh a stupid elective class. Or any class, for that matter.

Just as she logged on, however, a horrific sight met her eyes.

_Most Popular Threads:_

_**Danny Phantom has a girlfriend?**_

Sam clicked on it, begging it to be a fake story or photoshopped image of him and Paulina again.

The page loaded slowly, and suddenly her nightmare became reality.

Someone had gotten a picture of her and Danny flying home that afternoon. No photo doctoring, nothing that she could possibly deny. Just a clear and cut picture of Danny Phantom holding her in his arms, with her own arms wrapped around his neck for added security. And he was _smiling_ at her. It was nothing unusual for them, but compared to what the rest of the world had seen to far…this was big news. _Huge_, even.

And with over four hundred replies in the span of less than two hours, it was going to be hard putting out this wildfire.

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**Oh noez! **

**But seriously, I've been wondering how nobody's ever noticed this since like, "Fanning the Flames." Do people never look _up_ in the DP-verse? Guess not haha. Review? :)**


	15. We're Through

**Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter! Sorry for the delay in posting this (I had a busy weekend!). Enjoy~**

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The second Sam stepped through the gateway to Casper High, nearly everyone's head turned to face her. She had never wanted to be one with the crowd before, but suddenly she found herself wishing for just that. Having countless sets of eyes pinned on her as she slowly made her way through the hallways to where her locker was located was the most humiliating experience she had had in a while.

_You deserve it,_ a little voice inside her head chastised her. Sadly, Sam couldn't disagree.

Several people were shouting questions at her as she walked past them, and even after getting to her locker, Sam realized that nearly everyone had followed her.

"Can't you people get a life?" she snapped angrily as she threw her belongings into the locker and slammed it shut. She could barely hear herself think over the sound of twenty or thirty people asking her questions all at once.

"How'd you meet the ghost boy?"

"How long have you been going out?"

"Why would a hero like him go for a loser like you?"

"How long have you been suffering from necrophilia?"

"Where is he hiding all the time?"

Just as Sam caught the last bit of the cheerleader's question, she spotted Danny Fenton out of the corner of her eye. He didn't look too happy. And when shoving his way through the masses didn't work, he turned invisible. Sam looked around, astonished that nobody noticed this but her. Then again, their attention was solely focused on her, anxiously awaiting answers to their questions.

Sam jumped a little when an invisible hand clasped over her wrist, but she willingly allowed Danny to pull her away from the crowd. It must have been a strange sight; seeing people seemingly jump aside for Sam as she walked along. Surely nobody suspected that it was actually a very frustrated half-ghost boy shoving them out of the way?

Everyone attempted to follow, despite her shouts for them to stay away from her. Danny broke into a jog, and Sam accordingly picked up the pace. In unison, the mass of students started running too, but once Danny and Sam rounded a corner, he intangibly pulled her through the row of lockers and out of sight.

"Where'd she go?"

"The ghost boy probably took her away!" Paulina scowled. Nobody could be more infuriated than she was right now. After all these weeks of constantly spending time on her favourite ghost boy's fansite and ranking first in terms of number of posts on the forums, why in the world had he chosen that creepy nobody over her? Manson was so far back in the Dark Ages that she probably didn't even know what the internet was, let alone what site everyone was obsessing over! This only made Paulina more motivated to find the ghost boy so she could prove to him how much better she was than the loser Goth girl!

On the second story of the school, Danny had taken Sam into a janitor's closet to hide.

"What are we going to do, Sam?" Danny asked, floating above the ground with his arms crossed.

Sam bit her lip. She had to tell him. This was getting ridiculous, and now he was in more danger than ever before.

"Danny…I think we...well, I think...I-I can explain!"

"What do you mean?" Danny landed on the ground, clearly surprised by this. He had been expecting her to start listing off possible suspects for the photograph he saw plastered all over the web the night before, but 'I can explain'? No, that had been quite a startling response. The fact that she was stuttering as bad as he normally did when he got nervous was also troublesome.

Even more disconcerting were the tears flicking at the edges of her eyes. Sam _never_ cried. Not around him, anyway.

"Danny," Sam said slowly, trying to maintain control of her voice even though she was on the edge of completely losing control of everything. Her emotions, her closest friendships…

"Sam," Danny said simply, letting it hang in the air as he was waiting for her to speak first before he would say anything else.

"I messed up. Big time," Sam confessed and averted her gaze to the row of hanging mops and brooms behind her friend. Aside from the faint glow Danny's body was emitting, it was pretty dark in here. They could still see each other's faces, though Sam hoped he wouldn't take note of just how red her cheeks were getting. Tears were fighting to escape, but she didn't want to show just how defeated she was feeling right now. Not to him. Not to her friend, to whom she owed a billion apologies.

He had trusted her. And while the secret wasn't out yet, it was on the brink of revelation thanks to what she once considered an 'ingenious' idea. Now she had no way of putting out the wildfire she herself had created, and now Sam was about to potentially lose one of the best friends she'd ever had over it. The reminder of the severity of the situation made her feel sick to her stomach. But she couldn't hold back the truth anymore. It would kill her to lie to him, even just _one more time..._

"You know that website?" Sam whispered, still avoiding eye contact with him at all costs. She didn't bother specifying; there was only one site she could possibly be talking about.

He nodded slowly, but didn't say anything. Sam had a feeling the truth was starting to dawn on him.

"I...had an assignment. In my web design class. And..."

"-You made it about me," Danny finished for her quietly, having finally connected the dots. There was an ever so slight hint of hurt in his tone, something only a good friend such as Sam would have been able to catch. And it destroyed her.

"Danny, you have no idea how sorry I am. It's the stupidest idea I've ever had. I've been losing sleep for days over it. And now I can't delete it because someone hacked into it and won't let me take it down, and I-"

"What?" Danny yelped.

Sam had seen her friend freak out plenty of times in the past, but few times could come close to this one on the panic scale. His eyes glowed even brighter when he was angry, and even Sam wasn't exempted from this. Not anymore.

"Danny," she pleaded, diverting her gaze away from his once more. It was so much easier pretending to apologize to janitorial equipment than having to see that tortured look on her friend's face again. "I'm sorry. More than you'll ever know. But I'm going to get rid of it, I promise-"

Noticing that he hadn't said anything for a while, Sam nervously looked back up at him. It was worse than she could have imagined: he didn't look angry, like she had been hoping he would.

Instead, he looked sad. Actually, worse than that; _betrayed._

Sam closed her eyes and allowed a single tear to slip free. There would be no comforting for her, however; it was all her fault and the only person that could usually make her feel better was the same person that should have been furious with her right now.

Just as she was going to apologize again, they noticed a shadowy figure appear at the door. Sam immediately froze and watched in horror as the doorknob twisted ever so slowly, just like one of those scary movie scenes, except this was reality. Even with the town hero standing right next to her, Sam highly doubted that Danny was in any sort of mood for saving her life if the person or ghost on the other side decided to attack…

Fortunately, it was just Paulina.

Though perhaps that was more unlucky than fortunate.

Her mascara-lined eyes shot open at the sight of the Goth freak and the ghost boy hiding in the closet. She had been _right!_ He _did_ take her away from the rest of the students! And left _her_ behind? Manson was _so_ going to pay for this…

The three teens simply stared at each other for quite some time, before Danny abruptly turned away from Paulina and back to Sam.

With Paulina still watching- her jaw was still drooping open in shock- Danny maintained an unreadable expression on his face and said, "We're through, Samantha."

There was a brief pause as he allowed Sam to process the information, then he turned intangible and hurriedly exited the room via the ceiling.

There were barely three seconds of silence before Paulina began jumping up and down, shrieking excitedly in the most obnoxious tone known to humanity. She then turned to face Sam again with a victorious grin on her perfect little face.

Sam was too stunned to even care.

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**Sad panda :( **

**Oh boy, what ever will happen next? The suspense is killing me! Until next time….read and review :)**


	16. To Catch a Hacker

**Thank you all for the comments on last chapter! I apologize for the delay in updating (real life has been quite hectic as of late!). My goal is once a week from now on, but we'll see how I manage that xD Also, the formatting toolbar has temporarily vanished in my Doc Manager section, so please forgive any weird formatting errors :)**

Sam was having the worst week of her life. She had said the same thing a week ago, but now that was considered the second-worst in comparison to this one.

It had been three days since she had had an actual conversation with Danny. Sure, they were science partners, but for the first time ever, they spent the entire class discussing the lab. Not once did they veer anywhere close to personal territory; just mechanical frogs and amphibious properties.

The worst part was that Danny had barely made eye contact with her during the entire period. While Sam was grateful that he had saved her from the embarrassment of having to rearrange lab partnerships, she often found herself wondering if avoiding him altogether would be less torturous than being this close, yet so distant.

The only good news was that Paulina had wasted no time in blabbing that the ghost boy had "broken up" with her, sending the forum users into a frenzy over who would be the lucky one to date him now that he was single.

Sam pondered whether Danny had made such a scene on purpose, as it had at least managed to push her out of the spotlight. And the fact that he had called her by her full name was still puzzling. Was he really that mad at her or was he worried that Paulina would recognize the way he said his best friend's (or at least, _former_ best friend) name?

She wanted nothing more than to call him, IM him, or even ask him right to his face, what he was scheming, but she still felt so horrible that she couldn't bear to say a word to him. After the three day milestone, Sam began avoiding him altogether. They had been occasionally bumping into each other in the hallways, but now Sam, vigilant as ever, would scurry off in the opposite direction whenever she saw Danny.

Most of the time he didn't even notice, until one Friday.

Sam had been exhausted from staying up all night—again—trying to find a way to destroy the website. It had been entirely in vain, as the monster was still growing and churning up new members by the time the sky turned from black to gray, leaving Sam tired and beyond frustrated.

As such, she didn't immediately notice that she had run into the guys' restroom in order to avoid Danny, who had just appeared around the corner. Danny watched her clumsy attempt to hide, and shrugging to Tucker, he figured he would go in after her.

"Sam?"

"Danny?" came a strangled voice from one of the stalls. "What are you doing? You're not allowed in here."

Danny chuckled. "Last time I checked—uh, not that I ever have or anything—there aren't any urinals in girls' bathrooms."

"What?"

That had her flying out the stall door in the blink of an eye. Despite the look of horror on her face, Danny could still see her reddened eyes and cheeks glistening with the remnants of hastily dried tears. Upon further inspection, he also noticed dark circles under her eyes, indicating that someone hadn't been getting much sleep lately.

"Sam-" Danny started to say, but as soon as he took a step toward her, Sam spooked like a deer and darted out of the restroom. He tried following her, but after he exited, she was already gone. For someone without ghost powers, she sure knew how to make a speedy get away.

**oOoOoOo**

Sam cradled her arms against her body for added protection on her walk home. The blistering cold wind was numbing her skin, but she barely noticed. Her mind was too focused on her best friend and all of the damage she had caused so far.

His secret, as far as she knew, was still safe, yes. But everyone was on the brink of finding out because of the masses of speculative topics in the forums on the site _she _created. And Sam was no stranger to internet hype and rumors; with enough minds working together to solve a mystery, someone was bound to find out and inform the rest eventually.

At least one crisis had been averted. Thanks to Danny's good acting—or harsh yet warranted realistic outburst—nobody was accusing her of being the ghost boy's girlfriend anymore.

"One problem down," Sam said through her chattering teeth, "Five million to go."

A day like this would've been perfect for Danny to fly her home, but at this rate, she would consider it a miracle if he ever even _talked_ to her again.

He didn't seem too angry with her during their awkward confrontation in the mens' room earlier that day, but Sam hadn't wanted him to know just how upset she was and had escaped before she thought he could get a good glimpse at her.

Spending every lunch hiding in the library and taking alternative routes home after school was starting to wear thin with her, however. Sam now had a pretty good idea of what Danny was feeling during the whole Gregor fiasco, when she and Tucker had basically given him the cold shoulder for a week. But Danny was just being overprotective at the time. It was a shame that she had nothing to blame but her own foolish motives for her current circumstances.

Without realizing it, her legs had taken her to FentonWorks. Sam only consciously took note of this when the big flashing lights of the family's gaudy sign took her away from her thoughts and focused on her homebound route. Her house was a quarter mile away in the opposite direction, but some subconscious trigger had taken her here.

From the looks of it, Danny's parents must have been out because the RV wasn't parked in its usual place.

Sam sighed as she saw the dark window that led to Danny's room. He wasn't home either. Not that it would have made any difference, as Sam doubted she would have the confidence to try talking to him again without resuming panic mode. As soon as the cyber monstrosity was taken to its grave, Sam would attempt to talk to her friend again. Hopefully he would forgive her…

Just as Sam was about to turn around and go home, she saw a flash coming from the Fentons' backyard.

"Danny?" Sam called out warily. She crept along the fence, keeping her eye out for any ghostly activity. If none of the family was home, then it could have been just a malfunctioning invention of some sort, but the flash had been too big to ignore.

She cringed as her boots crushed a metal can as she sneaked along, but with the wind howling as loudly as it was, she doubted whoever it was on the other side of the fence would hear her.

As Sam neared a small peephole, she looked through it and gasped.

That wasn't Danny!

It was Technus, fiddling with the wires that powered the emergency energy supply for the Op Center.

He was all alone, and didn't acknowledge Sam's presence; if he had noticed her at all.

She silently watched him for a while, amazed by the dexterity in which he removed a wire here, attached another there. Of course, this would spell bad news for the Fentons later, but for now, Sam continued her quiet observation.

_Is there anything he can't hack into? _Sam found herself wondering.

Suddenly, it hit her like a brick in the face.

_Wait, he really _can_ hack into anything! _

Back when she and her friends had been playing the old version of Doomed, Technus had caught on to the rules quite easily. Only to be bested by the trio's teamwork in the end, Technus had come alarmingly close to gaining unbridled access to the internet. Not to mention the time he hacked the top-secret, government-subsidized satellite. Surely anyone with that much technological know-how could hack a silly little website?

Sam smirked as she reached into her spider backpack to retrieve the Fenton Ghost Fisher that Danny had once given her for emergency purposes. She was pretty sure the dire situation she was in justified it.

Slipping over the fence just behind Technus, Sam's mind nagged her about how dangerous it was to try catching a ghost with just a single weapon and no half-ghost best friend to back her up in case things went haywire.

Luckily, the element of surprise was on her side this time as she released the line and yelled, "Hey Technus!"

He never saw it coming.

**...**

**...**

**...**

**With this chapter, I finally hit the 100,000 words milestone in DP fanfiction alone. *celebrates* So glad I came back to the fandom. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and while this story is nearing its end (I'm guessing it'll be 20-22 chapters long total), I still appreciate reviews so I can gauge how I'm progressing! Thanks :)**


	17. Restricted Access

**Sorry for taking so long with this update! I've had a very hectic past couple of weeks, and as such, my updating schedule is nuts. Thank you for your patience and wonderful comments on the previous chapter! Enjoy~**

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The following day at school was interesting, to say the least. Sam was no longer cowering behind books to avoid the awkward gazes of her classmates, nor was she concerned about running into Danny anymore.

Her website was in the process of being disabled entirely. It hadn't been easy, but with a little flattery and a lot of bribing, Sam had finally won over Technus. Confronting ghosts had always been Danny's thing, but Sam was surprised at how adept she was at not only capturing, but coaxing the ghost to go along with her demands.

There had been exactly two components of the bribe: in return for the destruction of her website, Sam would allow him to use the domain as something of a self-promotional site. Every visitor—the daily count was in the hundreds of thousands and often surpassed one million—would now be subjected to relentless spam about the "master of all technology" instead of their favorite gossiping device, Danny Phantom.

The other inclusion in her offer was that she would give him her password for the next version of Doomed. Sam conveniently left out the fact that there were sixty new levels on this one and no unrestricted access to the world wide web at the end; the game was just a race to see who could finish the fastest. But Technus didn't need to know that.

There was always the potential for backlash once he figured this out, but Sam was hoping that by the time he finished the game—the current record was nine days, four hours, and twenty one minutes—she would be back on Danny's good side and the Fenton thermos would take care of the rest. It was quite a risk, but for someone as desperate as Sam, it was worth it.

The first hints of the ongoing dismantling appeared while she was at school. All of the students with smart phones were trying to check the site's forums from behind their textbooks during Lancer's world history lecture, but everyone was getting the same error message.

"What's wrong with this thing?" Sam could hear Paulina whining in the halls in between passing periods. She shook her phone angrily before tossing it back into her locker. The rest of the students were pretty upset as well, given that that website had been a major source of entertainment during school hours for the past couple of weeks and now they were being unexpectedly cut off from their number one source for all things Danny Phantom.

Only when Sam got the corner computer in her web design class did she dare to sneak a peek at what was causing all the commotion. Taking a deep breath and checking to make sure nobody else was watching her, Sam hesitantly typed in the website's URL and waited for the page to load.

A grin slowly appeared on her face as the page finished loading, leaving her staring at a repetitive video of Technus laughing on the screen, telling her "Nice try, maybe next time."

It didn't make much sense, but the only thing that mattered was that the site was wholly inaccessible.

And not just for Sam.

For everyone.

Part of her really wanted to see Danny now that their worries were over—for the most part, anyway—but she didn't see him at all at school that day. It wasn't until lunch did Sam work up the courage to go over to the table where Tucker was sitting by himself. It had been quite some time since she talked to either of her friends, and she couldn't remember the last time she had eaten with them. The past couple of weeks had been spent in the library, frantically searching for a way to resolve the mess she created. Sam hadn't realized how much she missed Tucker until he noticed her walking towards him and waved her over.

She quickly picked up her pace, ecstatic that he wasn't bent on ignoring her because of what she had done. Perhaps this meant that she could finally begin repairing her friendship with her two best friends in spite of recent events.

"Hey Sam," he greeted her cheerfully as she sat down on the bench across the table from him.

"Hi Tucker," Sam managed a small smile. She hadn't thought about the potential awkwardness of the whole situation until she made eye contact with him and instead of continuing on a conversation, they both looked off to the side.

"How have you been?" Sam asked after several moments of silence between them.

"The usual," came his generic reply. "I'm guessing you want to know where Danny is."

That stung. Danny was certainly the main reason they always hung out together and made up after fights, but the fact that Tucker jumped right into the issue of their friend still bothered Sam.

She sighed in response.

"He texted me saying he was sick today. Might be ghost problems, too."

Sam nodded numbly. Here she was, bursting with anticipation at the thought of finally being able to tell Danny that she had gotten rid of the atrocious website, and today of all days, he wasn't here. What a let down!

"How mad is he?" Sam cringed as she asked this question, expecting Tucker to yell at her for being so irresponsible. For betraying their best friend and possibly putting his secret in danger. For acting so strangely the past several weeks without explanation until it was too late.

But instead, Tucker grinned. "He's not as mad as you think, Sam. And after today," he pointed to the screen on his PDA, where the video of Technus laughing was repeating itself over and over again, "I think he'll forgive you."

"Really?"

Sam knew it couldn't be _that_ easy. But it was worth a shot to see if Tucker was right.

She decided to test her luck after school.

As the wind stung her cheeks, she tried to remember those cheerier days where she and her friends would all walk home together. And they wouldn't say goodbye when they reached the other's house. They would hang out for hours, watching movies, bowling, playing games, and of course, fighting ghosts whenever one would get in the way. Only after Danny missed his curfew would the trio say goodbye, only to meet up early the next morning before school. They were practically inseparable, after all.

Now times were different. Sam couldn't remember the last time she saw a movie with her friends or had to retrieve the thermos for Danny during a ghost fight. They had barely even spoken since Sam began her assignment. Only when she revealed to Danny that it was her site did communication stop almost altogether.

"_Please_ be home," Sam muttered under her breath as she approached Fenton Works. She wanted nothing more than to see Danny, to jump into his arms and apologize over and over for her stupid actions. Hopefully he'd reciprocate by forgiving her. Then things could go back to normal, right?

With the slightest hint of hesitation, Sam reached up and knocked on the door. It was a few seconds before someone answered, but finally Mrs. Fenton appeared. She was holding the fragments of an old Fenton invention in one hand, and her teal blue jumpsuit had bits of ectoplasm splattered on it.

"Hello Sam," she said in a cool voice. Sam took a step back; Danny's mom looked _angry_.

"H-hi Mrs. Fenton," Sam said nervously. "Is Danny home?"

A flash of fury flickered behind Mrs. Fenton's eyes. Sam was tempted to run while she still could, but something about this situation wasn't right.

"Yes," Mrs. Fenton said grimly. "He's in the lab."

Sam gaped at her. Her mind began wrapping itself around some pretty startling conclusions and Sam didn't like it one bit. Mrs. Fenton had been obsessed with her website ever since she discovered it last week; had she discovered Danny's secret? She was a bright scientist, after all, and with enough evidence, she could probably connect the dots.

Unable to ignore the copious amounts of ectoplasm—Danny's?—coating Mrs. Fenton's jumpsuit and the enraged expression on her face, Sam frantically pushed her way through the door and sprinted for the lab. Much to her shock, however, the door that lead to the basement was locked. Sam tugged on the knob with all her might, but it was thoroughly shut.

"Danny!" she yelled after hearing the firing of an ecto-weapon in the lab. She pounded on the door until Mrs. Fenton stopped her.

"Sorry Sam," she said darkly. "I can't let you go down there."

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**Thanks for reading! Hopefully the next update won't take so long! Reviews are appreciated :)**


	18. Contamination

**Two weeks? Not toooo long, right? Maybe for that last cliffhanger, it was :3**

**Anyway, thank you for the comments on the previous chapter. This story, like BLT, is coming down to the finish line. There are only one or two more chapters left, so I hope you've all enjoyed the ride while it lasted! **

**Enjoy~**

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"Mrs. Fenton, please, you need to let me see Danny. It's important!"

"I can't Sam," Maddie said, getting visibly irritated now. "The lab is contaminated and so is Danny."

"_What?_"

Sam jumped at the door, pounding on it with every last bit of strength her body would allow her to use, but now matter how hard she pulled or pounded, it remained firmly shut.

"_Sam_," Maddie said exasperatedly once Sam stopped her battle against the door and stood back, trembling. "Danny is probably fine, we just need to run a few tests on him to make sure."

"Tests?" Sam asked in a hollow voice. "What happened to him?"

Maddie sighed and led a thoroughly-pale Sam over to the living room and sat her down on the couch. Her eyes remained glued to the door leading to the lab, but hopefully she would calm down enough to hear what Maddie had to say.

"A ghost attacked before he left for school this morning."

"So?" Sam snapped at her before remembering that his parents weren't supposed to know that ghost attacks were just part of Danny's everyday life. "I mean...go on."

Maddie stared at her questioningly for a brief moment before continuing, "Danny and Jack were fighting it off, but Danny's not experienced as his father when it comes to these things and instead of running for safety, he ran _at_ the ghost! I couldn't believe it. Jack tried to stop him but at that point, it was too late."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, fearing the worst.

"The ghost had a knife with him," Maddie said, closing her eyes as though experiencing a painful memory. "It was coated in ectoplasm, and before Jack could get Danny away from the ghost, it...it stabbed him."

Sam nearly sighed with relief at this news; Danny had faced much worse than this in the past, but the devastated expression on Maddie's face warned her not to be so calm about this.

"But he'll be fine...right?"

Maddie looked back up at Sam. "We're not sure. The wound healed well—a little _too_ well, actually—but we need to run blood tests to determine whether or not the ectoplasm infected his bloodstream."

Sam's heart sank. It was one of the many potential scenarios Danny had always been worried about, but Sam never thought it could actually _happen._

"And if it did?" she whispered.

"Just a 'detoxification' process. Nothing you need to be concerned about, Sam."

"Danny's my best friend," Sam snapped. "I have a right to know what you're going to do to him. And aren't you violating his right to his own body by withdrawing blood without his consent?"

"We're his parents," Maddie said simply.

"_Right_. I'm still pretty sure that violates some law out there. Why don't you consult a legal professional before going through the tests?"

"It's too late, Sam. Jack already took a sample."

"So why is Danny still not allowed to leave the lab?" Sam cried.

"Just in case there _are_ traces of ectoplasm in his bloodstream-"

"-And so what if there are? Is it contagious? Do you guys know if it's actually _harmful_?"

"Sam, that's enough," Maddie said authoritatively. "My husband and I have been studying ghosts for longer than you've been alive. I think we know what we're doing."

Sam wanted to yell at her, much like she often clashed with her own mother. But alas, Maddie _wasn't_ her mother, and this heated argument needed to end before Sam spilled the beans out of frustration. Of _course_ there was ectoplasm in Danny's bloodstream. His parents wouldn't know that it was actually a permanent fixture in his body and not just a one-time contaminant, however. If they followed through with Maddie's concept of 'detoxification,' would it potentially kill Danny? He couldn't stand to lose half of his blood—the part that was composed of ectoplasm—and the death of Danny Phantom was too much for Sam to bear.

Suddenly, the knob on the door leading to the lab jiggled. A moment later, Jack Fenton walked through, leaving the door ajar behind him. Jumping at this opportunity, Sam sprinted from the living room and into the kitchen, ignoring Maddie's yells for her to come back. Jack was too busy examining the contents of the fridge to realize what was going on, giving Sam plenty of time to get through the door. Instead of immediately running down the stairs, however, she locked the door from the inside and placed a wooden plank in front of it to ensure that the Fentons would stay away for the time being.

As she practically flew down the stairs, memories of "You kids are in a world of trouble!" swirled to the surface of her mind, but seeing as this wasn't the first time she or her friends had blatantly defied authority figures, Sam found it difficult to really care.

"Danny!" she exclaimed when she entered the lab, seeing him in a containment unit near the portal. He was barely sitting up on his own, but managed to muster up enough strength to turn around and press his hands up against the glass as Sam came closer.

"Sam?"

He was obviously startled to see her there. It had been quite a long time since they last spoke, but he knew that somehow, she'd never let him down during a time like this.

"Uh, should I even ask what you did?" Danny asked, referring to the muffled shouts and poundings against the door at the top of the stairs.

Sam sighed as she began searching for the cube's exit latch. "Probably not. Otherwise you might be labelled as a co-conspirator!"

Danny laughed. It had been ages since he last saw _this_ side of Sam. It was nice to have her back, to say the least.

"Any idea how I can get you out of here?"

"There's a clear latch somewhere to your left. But Sam, it's too late. My dad already got a blood sample."

"Again," Sam said fiercely, "Why are you still in here, then?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're worried that their son might become, oh I don't know, part ghost if the ectoplasm remains in my system too long."

Now it was Sam's turn to laugh. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she had actually laughed, particularly around Danny, whom she felt she hadn't seen for weeks. They had, of course, spotted each other at school every so often, and they did share a few classes, but Sam had either been immersed in her website or avoiding Danny like the plague for quite a long time. Being with him right here and now, however, made her realize just how much she had missed hanging out with her best friend.

At long last, her fingers found the seemingly invisible latch and the containment cube's south door opened and Danny crawled out at once. Sam helped him to his feet, expecting nothing more than a simple handshake after the turmoil their friendship had suffered through in the past several weeks, but much to her surprise, Danny threw his arms around her.

At first, she was shocked; Danny never openly displayed this much affection for her. But then she weaved her arms around his back, enjoying the comforting embrace. The hug lasted a few seconds too long to be considered just a 'thanks for saving me' hug, but that didn't matter to either of them.

They withdrew only when Danny's parents had managed to unlock the door and stormed into the lab.

"Oh, _wow_, you pissed them off," Danny muttered under his breath once his parents were standing right in front of them, looking furious.

"Sorry," Sam whispered as she unconsciously grabbed Danny's arm.

"Go home Sam," Maddie ordered her. Instead of moving, however, Sam slowly shook her head and took a step behind Danny for protection from the angry adults.

"Mom, come on, she didn't do anything wrong-"

"If Danny's infected, then she probably is too," Jack interrupted, looking from Danny to Sam. There was a long period of silence hanging in the air as the adults processed this information and Danny and Sam silently tried planning a way out of this mess. Sam didn't know what to do or say, but it looked like Danny suddenly had an idea...

"You know what Dad? You're right about one thing. I did get ectoplasm in my blood," Danny said at last, taking a step forward.

"_What are you doing?_" Sam hissed.

"No point in hiding it if the answer's right in the test tube," Danny said over his shoulder. He turned back to his parents, who now wore shocked expressions on their faces. "But it wasn't from today. I've had it in my blood since the accident."

Sam's heart pounded ferociously against her chest. What was Danny doing? The whole reason she went to those extreme lengths to take down her website was so that Danny's secret would remain just that: a secret! And yet, here he was, telling his parents the truth!

"How do you know?" Maddie asked hollowly. She and Jack had taken a few steps back as Danny advanced; they didn't yet know what to make of this startling confession.

"Got a paper cut once," Danny lied easily. "Kind of hard to miss the red and green both coming out at the same time."

"You've been infected all this time-"

"Yeah," Danny cut her off. He craned his neck back to Sam, who looked absolutely horrified at this point. He winked. "The great part about it is that nothing has come of it."

"Nothing?" Jack and Maddie repeated with the slightest hint of disappointment.

Danny shrugged. "I don't even realize it's there. It's just like human blood. Just a different color."

Danny's parents looked dubious of this, but were still too stunned to make any sort of comprehendible speech. Sam was also stunned into disbelief; Danny just told his parents a massive truth and a massive lie. Somehow, it didn't sound like Danny _Fenton_ talking, though. More like his confident, smooth-speaking alter ego was bubbling to the surface.

So, while they now knew that their son had been infected with ectoplasm for the past several months, they also believed it had had no effect on him. For as long as Danny Phantom managed to evade those who wished to get a sampling of his DNA, this statement would stand as truth to the scientists. It was both brilliant and potentially very dangerous at the same time.

"W-we still want to run t-tests-" his mom said faintly before Danny interrupted her once more.

"Go ahead. You got your blood sample. I honestly don't know what you're expecting to find though."

"He's right," Jack said in what could be interpreted as a thoughtful proclamation. "I mean, it's not like humans can have the same properties as ghosts."

"If you say so," Danny whispered so only Sam could hear him. "Come on Sam, let's go."

Still wide-eyed over the strange confrontation between her friend and his parents, Sam numbly followed him up the stairs. The Fentons were too absorbed in their own hushed discussion to notice the two teens leaving.

"Thanks for the save, Sam," Danny said once they were back in the living room.

"I-I didn't," Sam stuttered. "That was all you back there. You're not worried that they're going to find out about Danny _Phantom_?"

Danny shrugged. "They can run all the tests they want and it won't matter if they can't link it back to Phantom. And I didn't confirm or deny what my dad said, so I shouldn't be in too much trouble if they _do_ manage to find out someday. I'll just have to be more careful from now on."

"I thought you were going to tell them."

"For a moment, I thought I was too. I guess I could have but-"

"It's a secret for a reason?" Sam offered with a tiny smile.

Danny grinned. "Something like that. So why are you here, anyway? Last time I saw you, you kind of ran away from me."

Sam blushed, thinking back to that day where she accidentally ran into the boys' bathroom. That was definitely embarrassing.

"Well, I have some good news and bad news."

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***sigh* I'm going to miss writing this story. That cliffie wasn't so bad this time, right? Thank you for reading and if you have any last comments/critiques/questions, I'd love to hear them :)**


	19. F is Friends Who Do Stuff Together

**Last chapter. BFF fluff and tying up loose ends ahead. Sorry for the stupid title, I just couldn't resist :D**

**Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed the previous chapter. Enjoy~**

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The moment Sam walked in empty-handed, she could practically feel the smirk growing on Paulina's face.

"What's the matter?" she asked in the most pretentiously sympathetic voice Sam had ever heard in her life. "Too busy hanging with your nerdy little friends to finish the project that makes up ninety percent of our grade?"

Instead of lashing out like she normally would have done, Sam smiled sweetly in return. "Actually Paulina, you're right! You know me; can't get enough of Tucker and _Danny_."

Sam knew, of course, that Paulina was too dense to realize that Sam was also implying that she was privy to just how many hours Paulina had spent on her site in the past sixteen weeks; all two hundred and forty-two of them. Meanwhile, form what Sam could see from the girl's website on "Perfect Skin," it was really just a crudely-designed web autobiography that was destined to fail.

Regardless of what grade Paulina got, Sam knew she deserved her F and was gladly awaiting it. Saving one of her most important friendships was more than worth having to retake the lousy class in summer school. Perhaps her next website would be about the Box Ghost.

"Lenore, Max?"

Mr. Harris was calling off the names in alphabetical order, and Sam was just after Max. Nearly everyone was turning in a report of some kind, but Sam had absolutely nothing on her desk.

"Manson, Samantha?"

She cringed at the sound of her real name and stomped up to the front, trying to ignore the giggles of her classmates.

"Miss Manson, do you have your report for me?"

"No," she said evenly. "My site got taken down by hackers."

"Well, surely you had some offline data saved—"

"Nope, nothing. It's all gone."

"Well, what was the subject matter at least?" Mr. Harris asked, sounded positively baffled by Sam's calm mood in the face of tremendous failure.

"Does it really matter, Mr. Harris? I'll take my F now."

Walking back to her seat, Sam never felt more confident in her life. Her peers were stunned by her non-responsiveness to their taunts and teases, especially considering what a hit her normally stellar grades just took.

Sam simply decided she didn't care. When she told Danny his secret wasn't getting out, she had meant it. If anyone in the class—even the teacher—learned that she knew so much about Danny _Phantom_, they would start connecting the dots, given how much time she spent with _Fenton._

Smiling down at the blotchy red 'F' marked on a slip of paper, Sam looked out the classroom door and saw none other than Danny looking in. She instantly hid the grade, not wanting him to see it in fear that he might try to do something about it himself.

"How'd that go?" he asked once the bell rang and school was officially out.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Let's just say I'll be going to summer school this year."

"Really?" his eyes lit up. "Me too. Failed math again."

Sam chuckled, wholly unsurprised by this. "Well, it looks like I'll have someone to walk to school with, at least."

"Walk?" Danny smirked.

"Oh right. Whichever mode of transportation you prefer, Your Highness."

"Flying's a little faster."

"So I've heard."

"Wanna try it out?"

"That's up to you."

"Let's have a democratic vote, then."

"Uh, Danny? Did you fail government too? Because there's no clear majority when there are only two people—"

"Danny Phantom says yes, too," Danny grinned.

"Oh that's _not_ fair," Sam laughed as Danny intangibly pulled her into a locker and they flew to the roof of the school and beyond.

"You really do suck at math," she teased him once they were hundreds of feet off of the ground, flying at a moderate pace.

"Well, put it this way: the majority of people in Amity Park believe I'm two different people, so why shouldn't I have two votes?"

"For your information, I was going to say yes too."

Danny simply smiled at this and they continued flying for a few more minutes before reaching the Manson residence.

"So, you're not bummed about summer school?"

Sam shrugged. "I messed up. Big time. I kind of deserve it."

"Why _did_ you make a website about me, anyway?" Danny asked curiously once he transformed back into his human half.

"You're my best friend," Sam said, not missing a beat. "I know everything about you, don't I?"

Danny blushed slightly. "I don't know, do you?"

"Well," Sam faltered, "It's not like I would put it all out there, of course. In my own defense, I only put up basic stuff I thought nearly everyone else already knew. But it was still a really bad idea."

"At least it's over now," Danny said, his cheeks returning back to their normal color. "My parents don't even seem as interested in my blood sample now that they think nothing came of it."

"'_As_ interested'? So they're still obsessing—"

"Oh, definitely," Danny grumbled. "I just need to stay away from them during bloodier fights, I guess."

"How about staying away from bloodier fights altogether?"

"That works, too. But sometimes they're inevitable, you know?"

"I honestly don't," Sam laughed. "But it'd lead to a lot less worry and panicking for Tucker and me if you could just play it safe every once in a while."

"What's the fun in that? By the way...how _did_ you manage to get rid of that website?"

As if on cue, the power lines in the streets outside started buzzing. Electrical currents radiated in the air around them, causing appliances to overheat and explode, and Sam's computer began shaking as though an earthquake were occurring.

At Danny's questionable glance, Sam smiled sheepishly. "Oh...right...uh, well, there's this issue with Technus..."

"Just him? Not a problem."

He instantly transformed and flew out to meet the tech-obsessive ghost, as well as the cheers of hundreds of spectators down below.

"Danny! Danny! Danny!" they chanted, distracting him for a moment as he waved to acknowledge them, but once Technus attacked, he zoned back into kickass mode.

Watching from her window, Sam relished the fact that she was one of the privileged few to know the truth behind Amity Park's beloved ghost hero. There had been loads of speculation on her website as to who he might truly be, but nobody ever suspected Danny Fenton. He was great at the weakling act and almost never broke character; a feat Sam doubted she would be capable of if she were in his shoes.

She didn't have the heart to tell Technus how little of a threat he posed to Danny upon releasing him in exchange for the destruction of DannyPhantom. com. Seeing him struggle now, faced off against a half ghost kid with nothing more than steely determination going for him, Sam silently cheered for Danny as well.

The interesting thing about her friendship with him was that, no matter how big the mistake may be, they always managed to come through for each other in the end.

And that's something Sam wouldn't change for the world.

* * *

**I was aiming for a TUE-like ending here, just with Sam, not Jazz. Note: this story wasn't really meant to be a DxS romance as much as it was focusing on their friendship. I couldn't find a way to make romance work here without severely rushing it, so I opted to go the BFF route.**

**Another 4+ year old story completed. Thanks for sticking with me for so long! Any last comments/questions (will be answered via PM)/etc. would be greatly appreciated :)**


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